A NEW strain of foot-and-mouth disease in Egypt could aggravate discontent among the rural poor and prolong the country’s political turmoil.
Egypt previously harboured two strains of the foot-and-mouth virus. In March a new strain, SAT2, broke out. It has since killed 20,000 of the livestock that are of vital economic importance to rural people, who make up the majority of the population.
Political instability has meant that “the ability to do the right surveillance and control has been quite diminished”, says Juan Lubroth, head of animal health at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The virus now…
