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Outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Japan biggest in decade: FAO vet

ROME (Kyodo) -- Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, said Tuesday that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Japan's Miyazaki Prefecture is one of the biggest outbreaks among advanced nations over the past decade, following epidemics in Britain in 2001.

Lubroth, in charge of farm animal disease issues at the FAO, told Kyodo News it is important to take swift action to deal with the spread of the virus, by using vaccines and killing animals that are suspected of being infected with the disease.

He suggested that it seems as if sufficient measures have not been taken to keep up with the development of the disease, while showing the FAO's readiness to dispatch experts to Japan to offer advice upon the request of the Japanese government.

According to the Japanese Embassy in Rome, the Japanese government is considering asking the FAO for help.

As to the use of vaccines, Lubroth said they would be effective in this case, referring to previous use in the Netherlands that helped to contain the spread of the disease.

He said domesticated animals should be destroyed, even if they are not confirmed to be infected, if they have had certain contact with infected animals, as once the virus spreads outside the prefecture it would be beyond the authorities' control.

The Japanese government said Wednesday it will slaughter all pigs and cows within a 10-kilometer radius of the areas hit by foot-and-mouth disease in Miyazaki Prefecture to contain the spread of the infection.

(Mainichi Japan) May 20, 2010

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