The Ministry of agriculture told about the difficult situation with FMD in the Eastern border areas of the Russian Federation

One of the reasons for this situation is that in most Russian regions the cattle has not been vaccinated against FMD.

"A difficult situation for FMD is observed in the frontier territories of Russia. It will be observed for a long time in 32 regions bordering Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan. To improve the situation it is necessary to keep records of the animals, work with their owners, adjacent territories", - told the Head of the Department of veterinary Vladimir Shevkoplyas to reporters in Yekaterinburg.

Shevkoplyas added that the number of regions "do not carry out vaccination against FMD". "The risks are high due to it, so the work should go on to adjust the plans for prevention. We have a reliable vaccine but a different approach is needed in prevention," he said.

In addition, according to the Head of the Department of veterinary of the Ministry of agriculture in some Eastern regions of the country the situation is difficult due to smallpox of sheep, particularly in certain districts of Zabaykalsky Krai, which border China. "When you start to analyze the procedure of vaccination, unregistered animals appear. As a result, we have dormant infection, and we shouldn’t have that", - said Shevkoplyas.

Prevention of anthrax

He added that the Ministry of agriculture is worried about the situation with the anthrax burial sites in the regions. "Handling these burial sites leaves much to be desired. After outbreak of anthrax in Yamal one needs to understand that this issue is relevant for all regions and that infectious disease will remain with us forever, as anthrax spores can persist for 100 years," said Shevkoplyas.

According to him, there are regions that took the situation under control. "As a positive example I want to mention Sverdlovsk region, where in 2016 from 21 million rubles was allocated from the regional budget for improvement of anthrax cattle burial sites. Now there are 72 burial sites in the region, 18 of which were improved last year", - said the representative of the Ministry of agriculture.

Shevkoplyas added that funds from the Federal budget are not allocated for the improvement of anthrax cattle burial sites. "The Federal budget finances the diagnostic system, the system of prevention of anthrax with the use of biological remedies. This is the responsibility of the Federation and it is maintained in full," said Shevkoplyas.

The positive experience of Sverdlovsk region

The Department recommends the regions to review the program of prevention leukemia. Regarding this issue Shevkoplyas advised to rely on the experience of Sverdlovsk region.

"In Sverdlovsk region they have historically positive experience of prevention leukemia. This was achieved thanks to the efforts of the authorities of the region and the rector of the Ural state agrarian University, academician of Russian Academy of Sciences Irina Donnik. Now in the Urals the number of cows is about 100 thousand heads and they all "clean", i.e. not infected with leukemia. Such indicators have to be reached in other regions," said Shevkoplyas.

According to Donnik, in the Middle Urals in 1992 with participation of Sverdlovsk region a special program was developed to solve this problem.

"They organized thorough monitoring, applied innovative methods of diagnosis, and due to this hard work the whole herd was replaced with healthy animals. The work was carried out in all types of enterprises, especially at private owners, 100% of the area was investigated. On the basis of careful monitoring and coverage of all livestock by 2006 they managed to achieve the result that 95% of the animals were free from this infection, and in 2013, our region was declared a fully prosperous in this sense," she said.

Donnik said that the experience of Sverdlovsk region was also implemented in Tyumen region, Krasnodar region and Leningrad region.

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