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Food-and-Mouth Disease Strikes North India
There have been signs of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in some villages in India's northwest states of Punjab and Haryana, according to the Statesman daily on Sunday.
After a gap of three years, FMD disease in cattle, which could be followed by fatal haemorrhagic septicemia in many cases, seemed to have staged a comeback in some villages in Punjab and Haryana, the paper said.
However, it added, Punjab Animal Husbandry professionals were reluctant to accept the situation as an outbreak of FMD though villagers in the state had reported symptoms like cattle initially running high fever, refusing to eat and later discharge white frothy liquid from mouth.
Worst affected villages were reportedly in Ludhiana district, where experts from Punjab Agricultural University had already made a inspection tour, said the Statesman.
In some villages in Haryana, isolated cases of FMD had been reported and 11 cattle had died of the disease in 20 days while more were in precarious condition.
Three years ago, FMD hit villages like Ferozpur and Moga in Punjab while Haryana escaped the epidemic, which, experts said, affects crossbred or exotic breeds of cattle the most.
Punjab cattle were more prone to FMD, which is widespread in Europe, Middle East and neighboring Pakistan.
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