PMK Task Force: Number of Livestock Infected with Foot-and-Mouth Disease Surpasses 538,000 Cases (Thursday, September 22, 2022)

Based on data from the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Handling Task Force, 538,354 livestock in Indonesia had contracted foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) as of Thursday, September 22, 2022.

Of these cases, 419,726 livestock have recovered, 11,796 were conditionally culled, 97,790 remain unrecovered, and 9,042 died from FMD.

As of today, 17 provinces in Indonesia have active FMD outbreaks. East Java still reports the highest number of cases, with 186,754.

As of September 22, 2022, the livestock affected by FMD included 437,442 beef cattle, 72,359 dairy cattle, 22,326 buffalo, 4,230 goats, 1,909 sheep, and 88 pigs.

To address this outbreak, the government has vaccinated 2,837,759 livestock to date. Professor Wiku Adisasmito, Coordinator of the Expert Team for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Handling, urged farmers to vaccinate livestock susceptible to FMD.

"This needs to be a concern for Indonesian farmers, so they can protect their valuable livestock assets with full awareness and responsibility," Wiku said in an online press conference on Tuesday (September 20).

Wiku stated that it has been scientifically proven that vaccinated animals will have better immunity to the disease.

He continued that vaccinated animals, if infected with the FMD virus, will exhibit milder clinical symptoms than unvaccinated animals. Furthermore, vaccinated animals will also have a lower risk of transmission and death.