Foot-And-Mouth Variant Hits Iraq Buffaloes, Threatening Livelihoods

Feb 10, 2023

By Mohammad Salim

Despite vaccinating his entire herd against foot-and-mouth disease, Iraqi farmer Saadoun Roumi has lost five of his 15 buffaloes to a variant never before seen in the country.

The severe, highly contagious livestock disease has plagued Iraq for decades, but this year's outbreak has already had a devastating impact described as unprecedented by veterinarians in Nineveh province.

Laboratory tests have identified the SAT2 variant of the viral disease, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

This strain—never before recorded in Iraq—is resistant to the vaccines normally used in the country, leaving authorities scrambling to obtain the right doses to inoculate livestock and prevent further spread.

"The infections are much higher," lamented 26-year-old Roumi from his farm in the village of Badush near Mosul, the capital of Nineveh. "Every day, there are between 20 and 25 cases in the village."

In his yard, he tends to one of his ailing animals, chewing on some fodder in a basin. Along with the five he has already lost, all his buffaloes were vaccinated against the disease as part of a campaign by authorities in 2021.

"The administered vaccines aren't effective," Roumi said. "Foot-and-mouth disease has ravaged the herd."

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