Kudus Regency Government Will Involve Private Veterinarians In Anticipating Mouth And Nail Diseases

A veterinarian from the Agriculture and Food Service of Kudus Regency, Central Java, examines a cow's mouth (Via ANTARA)

KUDUS - The government of Kudus Regency, Central Java, will involve private veterinarians to anticipate the spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in livestock, including its handling of exposed livestock.

"The number of veterinarians we have is only two people, so the number of human resources (HR) needed at this time is very low because the number of cattle exposed and suspected of FMD is quite large," said Kudus Regent Hartopo in Kudus, Antara, Friday, 3 June.

Therefore, he said, it is necessary to involve private veterinarians to assist in handling livestock that are exposed or suspected so as not to infect other livestock.

The Head of the Kudus Agriculture and Food Service, Sunardi, accompanied by the Head of Livestock Services, Agus Setiawan, admitted that so far his party had only relied on available personnel.

"With the increasing number of PMK cases, we will optimize the available personnel, including utilizing livestock extension workers," he said.

Ideally, he said, under normal conditions there would be three veterinarians, while the current condition requires a veterinarian as well as a qualified medical team.

The Kudus Agriculture Service noted that the FMD cases found in Kudus have so far reached 176 cases, 11 of which were positive for PMK and one of them died.

According to him, currently many livestock have recovered, including those previously tested positive for PMK.

While those who were declared to be still sick and needed treatment, there were 91 cases of the total population of 365 buffaloes and cows in Kudus. Of the total population, about 70 percent are buffalo and the rest are cows spread across a number of breeders in Kudus.