17 FMD-positive samples confirmed at Karasburg

A TOTAL of 17 samples have tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), with all positive cases so far confined to the Karasburg State Veterinary District in the ||Kharas region.

This was revealed by acting agriculture minister Charles Mubita on Saturday, who said the positive results were recorded during intensified surveillance following the detection of clinical cases on a farm in the Karasburg district on 22 September.

“Out of 199 samples, 17 tested positive (all from Karasburg State Veterinary District). So far, all positive cases remain confined to the Karasburg State Veterinary District,” Mubita said.

The samples were collected between 22 and 25 September during a routine surveillance exercise conducted in the ||Kharas, Khomas, Omaheke, Otjozondjupa and Oshana regions.

The outbreak was first detected on 22 September after clinical cases of FMD were identified on a farm in the Karasburg district.

Laboratory tests on 11 samples collected from a herd of 65 cattle found that 10 tested positive for the FMD virus.

Mubita said traceability activities began immediately after the positive results from the infected farm were confirmed on 23 September.

He said the traceability exercise found that four cattle had moved from the infected farm in the Karasburg district to the Otjozondjupa region.

A total of 30 samples were collected there on 24 September, including the four cattle from the infected farm and an additional 26 cattle tested as a precaution.

“All the tested samples yielded negative results,” Mubita said.

The 65 cattle on the infected farm and animals on surrounding farms remain under strict monitoring.

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