Date: 19 Dec 2000
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: AP Online (edited)
Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Tanzania
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ARUSHA, Tanzania: An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed
for the first time among wildebeest in Tanzania's Serengeti National
Park. In wildebeest herds affected by the outbreak, up to a fifth of the
animals are lame, Dr. Titus Mlengenya, chief veterinary officer for
Tanzania National Parks said Tuesday.
The Serengeti is famous for the incredible migration of 1.5 million
wildebeest who move to the Masai Mara park in neighboring Kenya, where they
mate and graze before returning to the Tanzanian park to give
birth. Foot-and-mouth, which does not pose a risk to humans, infects
cloven-hoofed animals and has a mortality rate that ranges from 5 percent
for adult animals to 75 percent for newborns. It is the first time the
disease has been identified in the Serengeti's wildebeest since the area
became a national park in 1959, Mlengenya said.
Cattle around the Serengeti also have turned up with foot-and mouth, he
said, urging wildlife experts to develop new policies to keep
foot-and-mouth - and other diseases - from spreading. "As the role of
wildlife to the national economy is increasing, it's important that
livestock health and development programs should also integrate the
wildlife," he said at a conference of wildlife experts.
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