New foot-and-mouth outbreak amid shortage of vaccines
LIBYA – The Animal Health Office in Al-Bayda has announced the detection of an outbreak of a new strain of the foot-and-mouth disease virus in the Qandula area of Jabal Al-Akhdar, adding that samples have been taken for testing.
New strain likely brought in by infected livestock
In exclusive remarks to the Fawasel platform, the office said the new strain had probably arrived through the movement of infected livestock from other countries, although the source of the infection has not been definitively confirmed.
Delays in supplying vaccines for the first two strains
The office said vaccines and treatments for the first and second strains, already known locally, had still not arrived as supply delays continue.
Situation stable after costly earlier outbreak
The office said the epidemiological situation in the area is currently stable, following a severe outbreak in recent days that caused heavy losses in the absence of vaccines and treatments.
It warned that the virus has multiple strains, which it said number as many as eight, adding that the lack of vaccines matched to each strain remains a constant threat to livestock.
