Iraq announced Monday, March 5, it had taken emergency measures to prevent the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease from spreading after an outbreak in neighboring Turkey.
"Veterinarians have been deployed at Iraq's border posts, especially those on the Turkish border, to disinfect all vehicles... transiting through Iraq", Iraqi Agriculture Minister Abdul Ilah Abdul Hamid", was quoted as saying by the official INA agency.
In an attempt to prevent the epidemic from spreading, the minister also announced that "transporting bovines from one Iraqi province to another was now forbidden".
In 1999, the head of the department for veterinary medicine at the agriculture ministry, Fadel Abbas called for international aid after a foot-and-mouth outbreak, saying more than a million oxen and 150,000 young head of cattle were killed. — (AFP, Baghdad)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
