As the new year slowly gets into its stride, the Eastern Cape department of agriculture will continue to keep a close eye on farms in the Kouga Municipality to ensure that a foot and mouth disease outbreak remains contained.
The Eastern Cape and neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal are the only two provinces that still have active cases of the disease, according to a technical report by the department.
The outbreak, between Humansdorp and St Francis Bay, was first reported in April 2024 while the last confirmed vaccinations were recorded in September.
This means the locations that received their vaccinations last will have to remain under quarantine for a further nine months before restrictions can be lifted.
Before 2019, SA was considered a foot-and-mouth-free zone, but one outbreak after another was reported in the northern regions of the country, and as animals travelled from one region to the next, so did the disease.
Seven of the nine provinces reported positive cases, with only the Western and Northern Cape dodging the proverbial bullet, and since then the outbreaks in five provinces have been treated and confirmed resolved.
Limpopo was the first to be cleared in August 2023, followed by North West and Gauteng in March 2024.
Mpumalanga was cleared in May, and the Free State’s last case was declared resolved in October.
While close to 20 cases have been resolved in KwaZulu-Natal, the province still has about 140 active cases receiving attention.
In the Eastern Cape, an outbreak near East London was declared resolved by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in 2024, leaving a further 38 active cases contained to the Kouga Municipality.
According to the department’s spokesperson on foot and mouth , Sara-Lee van Eeden, 33 farms had confirmed cases towards the end of 2024.
A further 37 farms were placed under quarantine because the farmers opted to undergo pre-emptive voluntary vaccinations to curb the spread of the disease.
However, regulations dictate that farms where voluntary vaccination is administered should also be placed under quarantine and adhere to the same strict measures as farms with confirmed cases.
Since the start of the outbreak, a total of 93,064 cattle and 635 sheep have been vaccinated in the Eastern Cape.
These figures include animals with symptoms, as well as animals that were vaccinated pre-emptively.
Nationally, upwards of 634,000 animals have been vaccinated.
The government has urged farmers, whether they are affected by the disease or not, to adhere to strict biosecurity protocols to ensure they remain disease-free and to prevent the further spread of the disease.
These protocols include strict monitoring of movement — animals, people and vehicles — to and from farms, and continuously monitoring the condition of animals for any clinical signs of the disease.
Foot and mouth is a highly contagious disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals. It cannot be spread to humans.
Symptoms include hypersalivation, animals refusing to eat, ulcers and lesions on the tongue, lameness and a drop in milk production.
Fatalities are rare if animals are treated quickly.
It does, however, have a severe economic impact as many countries tend to ban the import of meat and other animal products from regions with confirmed cases.
HeraldLIVE
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