Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi says there will be a mass vaccination campaign for livestock due to the foot and mouth disease outbreak in the northern parts of the province.
According to Sithole-Moloi, in May last year the first case was reported in Mtubatuba Local Municipality in a dip tank and this prompted the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza to declare a Disease Management Area (DMA) in the province.
Sithole-Moloi revealed at the KZN Legislature when presenting her budget on Friday that in January 2022 the disease resurfaced in KwaHlabisa area which is still within the DMA. She said this showed that the disease was circulating and spreading through the movement of animals.
“Resurfacing of the virus shows that the disease is rapidly spreading within the DMA and it needs to be contained through vaccination before its spreads outside the DMA,” said the MEC.
She indicated that in a bid to stop the spread, the department had taken swift steps which include;
- placing movement restrictions on cloven-hoofed animals, their products and genetic material out of, into, within or through the revised DMA.
- deploying Visible Veterinary Patrols (VVPs) to monitor movements of animals within, through and out of the DMA.
In addition to this, the MEC said clinical and serological surveillance in the affected areas continued, with intensified inspections around the newly identified infected dip tank.
“Vaccination is an important component of programmes that seek to reduce impact of FMD and to block circulation of the causative virus in order to establish and maintain disease freedom by providing protective immune response,” the MEC said.
She said the department would intensify vaccination programmes, disease surveillance, awareness campaigns and movement controls as these are critical steps to enable the province to manage FMD successfully.
She said livestock vaccination consists of 1st and 2nd doses which is administered six to eight weeks apart.
The department said the vaccine is safe to be used on all animals regardless of age and also it is safe on pregnant animals.
The MEC indicated that the first round of vaccination commenced in March 2022 with the second round expected to start in July 2022, and over 40 000 cattle are expected to be vaccinated.