SA’s agriculture department has established a FMD task team to prioritise the outbreak, and a veterinary operational committee is also dealing with it
Hand, foot and mouth disease is a viral infection that can affect infants and young children.
SA has met international conditions to recover its foot-and-mouth disease-free status, paving the way for meat export bans to be lifted.
A ban on some meat exports after a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak could cost South Africa over R4-billion a year, says the Red Meat Industry Forum.
The viruses involved in the foot-and-mouth outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal have been isolated, according to the Department of Agriculture.
South Africa has lifted restrictions on red meat exports, but kept a ban on the movement of live animals.
The KZN agriculture department said it regretted the allowing of foot-and-mouth disease fence in the KwaZulu-Natal north coast to fall apart.
No image available
/ 28 February 2011
A suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has occurred in northern KwaZulu-Natal, the agriculture minister said on Monday.