Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
A Shortage of vaccines is hampering efforts to contain the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the Midlands province, an official said yesterday.

The provincial veterinary officer, Thomas Sibanda said there were fresh cases of foot and mouth disease in Gokwe South near Chirisa game park and Mberengwa district.

“There is foot and mouth outbreak in the province but we don’t have money to buy the vaccines. We don’t have stocks right now and we’re afraid the disease might spread to other areas,” said Sibanda.

He said the province has been battling to contain the disease since last year.

Sibanda said people who were moving cattle from one area to the other looking for buyers offering more were making it difficult to contain the outbreak.

In April, the veterinary services department suspended cattle sales in some parts of the province following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Zvishavane, Gweru and Mvuma as well as Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe has experienced regular outbreaks of the disease in recent years in cattle rich regions of Matabeleland and Midlands.

Cattle sales were also suspended as part of measures to contain the outbreak.

At the turn of the new millennium, Zimbabwe’s export quota of beef to the European Union (EU) was banned after an outbreak of foot and mouth hit most parts of the country.

The outbreak at the time spread to neighbouring Botswana, a major producer of beef for both the regional and international markets.

Foot and mouth disease is a viral infection which affects livestock.

In cattle, the affected livestock may develop sores, blisters on the feet, in the mouth and on the tongue.

Other signs may include fever, shivering, lameness and affected cows produce less milk.