A variant of foot-and-mouth disease ravages cattle in Iraq

(Badouch) Saadoun Roumi had his cattle vaccinated to protect them from foot-and-mouth disease and guarantee their milk production, but in vain: a variant of the viral disease, discovered for the first time in Iraq, has already killed five of his fifteen buffaloes.

Closely watched for its rapid transmission and devastating economic impact, foot-and-mouth disease has plagued Iraq for decades.

But this year the intensity of the disease is unprecedented, by the very admission of the veterinary authorities. In particular in the province of Nineveh, where the village of Mr. Roumi is located, Badouch, near Mosul (north).

“The contaminations are more important”, deplores the 26-year-old breeder, according to whom “every day, there are between 20 to 25 cases in the village”.

In his yard, he takes care of a kneeling buffalo, barely managing to chew fodder placed in a basin. The animal is sick, like the five other buffaloes killed this season. However, they had all been vaccinated in 2021 during a campaign led by the authorities.

“The vaccines administered are not effective,” accuses Saadoun Roumi. “The foot-and-mouth disease ravaged the cattle. »

The FAO, the UN agency for agriculture, has confirmed that analyzes have identified a strain never identified to date in Iraq. A strain against which local vaccines remain powerless, and which requires the dissemination of a new antidote.

Between the disease and the exorbitant price of fodder, which pushes breeders to be parsimonious, milk production on Mr. Roumi’s farm has dropped by half. “Before, I produced a barrel of 50 kg of milk (per day), now barely 25 kilos”, sighs this father of four children.

High mortality

If it does not threaten humans, foot-and-mouth disease is extremely contagious for cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and other ungulates, according to the FAO.

It is characterized by the appearance of mouth ulcers and lesions on the oral, nasal and breast mucous membranes, and on the claws.

The disease can cause high mortality in newborn or young animals, weight loss and reduced milk yields, according to the UN agency.

According to the FAO, “infected animals are so weakened by the disease that they can no longer be used for plowing or harvesting, and farmers cannot sell their milk, which can have serious repercussions on household food security”. .

Director of the Nineveh Veterinary Hospital, Odai al-Abadi says the disease is “resurging in intermittent waves” in Iraq. But this year “the contaminations are high and number in the hundreds” in the province, against the usual dozens.

“More than a hundred heads of cattle have died”, adds the veterinarian, recalling that the last peak of contamination dates back to 1998.

He claims to have asked Baghdad for the “emergency” shipment of vaccines to Nineveh. The region has not received any in 2022 from authorities, he says, although vaccines can be purchased locally privately.

Prevent the epidemic-

At 90, Balou Roumi, Saadoun’s father, claims to have lost a calf on his herd of 20 buffaloes. “When foot-and-mouth disease hits the animal, its milk is unusable and its legs can barely carry it,” he explains.

Analyzes of twelve samples taken from Nineveh, Baghdad and the province of Diyala (center), made it possible to identify the culprit strain: SAT2 for “South African Territories”, explains to AFP Khaled Shlash, deputy representative of FAO in Iraq.

To curb contamination, the authorities are carrying out disinfection campaigns and imposing restrictions on the movement of animals, said the official, adding that FAO experts will provide their expertise to support government efforts.

Iraq is now waiting for an FAO partner laboratory in Britain to identify the most suitable vaccine, and then find a producer capable of supplying it with more than nine million doses, explains Mr Shlash.

“Where and how did this virus come to Iraq from? This is the question that the veterinary services are trying to elucidate,” confides the expert.