Official reports issued by the Agriculture Ministry's public authority of veterinary services on Wednesday showed the spread of foot-and-mouth disease across some governorates. Total infected cases were estimated at 43,715, an increase of 3,715 cases since Tuesday.
The total fatal cases numbered 5,334, most of which were from calves, according to the reports, despite statements by Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Reda Ismail that the ministry had controlled the spread of the disease across governorates.
Gharbiya had the highest number of infections at 19,871; 2,085 of which were fatal. Daqahlia followed with 5,846 cases with 522 deaths. In Beheira, the total number of cases was estimated at 2,422.
The reports also indicated the absence of infection in the Red Sea, North Sinai and South Sinai governorates.
Meanwhile, Suhair Abdel Qader, head of the preventive medicine department at the General Authority for Veterinary Services, said fatal cases began to decrease over the past few days and that infections declined in Alexandria, Fayoum and Minya governorates. She also added that 45 percent were treated while the other 55 percent are still undergoing treatment with the help of veterinary authorities.
Abdel Qader said that the final results from the Institute for Animal Health Pirbright Laboratory regarding the vaccines that will cure the disease were supposed to arrive Wednesday. She said that the ministry is waiting for the British institute to develop the vaccine for the virus, to import it and assign the Veterinary Vaccines Institute to start producing it locally.
According to Abdel Qader, Egypt asked six countries including France, India, Turkey, Switzerland and England to import the vaccine.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
