Foot-and-mouth outbreak

Faced with a foot-and-mouth outbreak, Kyrgyzstan has imposed a 21-day quarantine on cattle movement in the south of the country. The disease has struck the main cattle-breeding Kara-Suu, Uzgen and Kara-Kulja districts in Osh province and Aksy district of Jalalabad province, say media reports. At least 500 cases of the disease in domestic cattle had been registered. The Kyrgyz government has put the veterinary services on a 24-hour alert to treat sick animals and vaccinate calves, and has set up control posts to monitor cattle transportation. Specialists from the state veterinary services suspect that cattle that moved from neighbouring Uzbekistan to summer pastures in Kyrgyzstan could be the source of infection, though they don't discount the possibility of a home-grown outbreak.