BFSA Warns of Foot-and-Mouth Disease: How to Protect Animals?

The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) calls on all farmers to be especially vigilant for symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. In case of suspicion of the disease, they should immediately notify an official veterinarian, the BFSA points out.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease. It spreads rapidly and can cause the destruction of entire herds and serious economic losses.

The BFSA appeals for responsible self-monitoring and the cooperation of farmers in preventing the dangerous disease, against the backdrop of the growing spread with 46 outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Cyprus and five outbreaks on the island of Lesbos in Greece, where a state of emergency was declared a few days ago. In parallel with this, the Agency has already taken a number of measures to protect Bulgarian livestock from foot-and-mouth disease. The first among them are strict control and the fight against illegal import and trade of animals from the affected countries. 

Clinical signs: vesicles (blisters filled with fluid, aphthae) in the mouth (cheeks, tongue, gums, nasal mirror), hooves, udder and genitals, turning into erosions; increased salivation; high temperature; depression and loss of appetite; lameness; decrease in milk yield; abortions; sudden death in newborn animals. 

In sheep and goats, the clinical signs are often mild (mainly with lameness) and difficult to recognize.

The BFSA calls on farmers to look for blisters and erosions in the interdigital space; limping; aphthae and erosions in the oral cavity; udder and genitals; heavy salivation. 

The disease spreads through: direct contact between sick and healthy animals; products of animal origin – through infected products, including feeding with kitchen waste or unprocessed milk; mechanical transmission through shoes, clothes, equipment and vehicles; wind – under certain climatic conditions, the virus can spread over a distance, especially at low temperatures and high humidity.

In connection with the serious danger of the entry of foot-and-mouth disease in our country, the BFSA has created a national operational crisis headquarters for category “A” diseases on the territory of the country. Its chairman will be the deputy executive director of the BFSA, Dr. Krasimir Kolev. The headquarters will manage, control and coordinate the measures for the prevention of diseases, as well as those for limiting and eliminating outbreaks of diseases. The goal is to prevent the spread of diseases that lead to the loss of animals and destroy the livelihoods of farmers.