Highly infectious Food-and-Mouth disease (FMD) have affected thousands of domestic animals in Arunachal Pradesh.
The FMD, which is also touted as “the scourge of livestock”, has led to the death of as many as 808 mithuns and 71 cows in Arunachal Pradesh thus far.
Arunachal Pradesh Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Minister – Tage Taki informed that a total of 11,398 mithuns and 2914 other cattle have been affected by the disease in recent times.
“FMD has become an endemic in Arunachal Pradesh. It is a big threat to the health of our livestock. FMD affects productivity of milch animals and ploughing capacity of bullocks,” media reports quoted Tage Taki as saying.
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Foot-and-Mouth disease is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids.
The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, followed by blisters inside the mouth and on the feet that may rupture and cause lameness.
FMD has very severe implications for animal farming, since it is highly infectious and can be spread by infected animals comparatively easily through contact with contaminated farming equipment, vehicles, clothing, and feed, and by domestic and wild predators.