AHSA, 12 June — A mysterious animal disease spreading in the northern villages of the Ahsa region in the past several days has killed more than 100 goats. The disease resembles foot-and-mouth disease, which wreaked havoc in farms across the Kingdom in recent months.
The Agricultural Ministry has confirmed that no FMD cases had been detected in Al-Kilabiyah and the neighboring villages where the mysterious disease broke out.
Ahmad Al-Rakban, director of public relations at the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, said no symptom of the deadly FMD was found in the cattle farms of the region. He added that there was no cause for concern as there are no cows on any of the farms. Nevertheless ministry officials are combing the area to make sure the cattle in the region are safe, Al-Rakban said.
On the contrary, the farm owners and cattle breeders in the area were unhappy with the poor response to the new outbreak from local officials. They said the symptoms of the disease resembled those of FMD. Local residents complained that the municipal authorities did not help them in disposing of the animal carcasses properly in order to prevent the disease from spreading.
A farmer in Al-Omran said he had approached the village authorities repeatedly requesting them to remove the dead animals dumped into an abandoned water pool in the village. He said this had exposed healthy animals to the disease, quite apart from the foul smell it generated from the pool. He called on the officials to spray insecticides to destroy vermin feeding on the carcasses.
For his part, Saleh Al-Eidan, head of the Ahsa Municipality, said he had asked the Irrigation and Drainage Department to undertake immediate action to fill the water pools in the area. However, the department said it was helpless for want of resources. Water drained from farms in the neighborhood formed the stagnant pools.
The municipality has now ordered a cleaning contractor to remove the carcasses from the pool and spray the area with a large quantity of chlorine and other insecticides.
Dr. Fahd ibn Jama, a newspaper commentator on health issues, has urged the Ministry of Agriculture and Water to handle the problem carefully. He called for satisfactory answers to questions raised by the public. They want to know whether humans will contract the disease and how dangerous it is for the animal resources. The ministry should also take immediate steps to contain the spread of the disease.
The writer criticized the ministry for its failure to detect the outbreak of the disease and take preventive steps before it killed so many of the animals.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is trying to determine the circumstances in which a Filipino working at a poultry farm in Jizan had contracted the Rift Valley Fever. The worker has been admitted to King Fahd Central Hospital in Jizan. The incident has raised fears of RVF, which disappeared from the region, popping up again.
However, a source at the hospital said there was no conclusive evidence to prove that the Filipino contracted the disease from birds, even though he worked at a poultry farm.
