Burials of foot and mouth livestock begin

Burials of livestock culled in the aftermath of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the Larnaca district have begun, Aradippou mayor Christodoulos Partou said on Saturday.

“Work began today in Aradippou for the burial of the animals of the livestock unit where positive cases of foot and mouth disease were identified. The livestock unit has over 4,000 sheep and goats, and the burial of the animals will follow the protocol which has already been set,” he said.

Earlier, veterinary services department spokeswoman Sotiria Georgiadou had said on the matter that her department is continuing to “look for the most suitable burial sites within the specifications we set”.

These burial sites, she said, must be carefully chosen “so that the groundwater and soil are not contaminated” and so that the National Guard can be informed.

Away from the matter of burials, Partou said that Cyprus is “on the right track” in its fight against the outbreak, “taking into account that [on] Friday, no other positive cases of foot and mouth disease were identified”.

 He also highlighted the fact that within Aradippou’s municipal boundaries, there are “several” pig farms, with pigs requiring a different vaccine than those thus far given to cows.

“Pig pens must be protected, taking into account that the symptoms of foot and mouth disease in sheep and goats are milder and it is necessary to protect pigs from possible infection,” he said.

He then once again stressed that “we are on the right track”, but said that “we still have a long way to go until the final resolution of the problem”.

Georgiadou had said on Friday that cows are the first animals to be vaccinated as they are “more vulnerable”, with pigs next to be receive the vaccine, and sheep and goats to be vaccinated after that.

“This is done because pigs are very vulnerable, and when they get infected, they reproduce the virus in very large quantities,” she said, before saying that in this vein, sheep and goats around pig pens are also high in the priority list for vaccinations.