MR. STANKOVIC AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMPETENT GOVERNMENTAL BODIES VISITED THE HOUSEHOLD IN MEDVEDJA THE LIVESTOCK OF WHICH IS AFFECTED BY THE “BLUETONGUE” DISEASE

Zoran Stankovic, the President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, accompanied by Budimir Plavsic, the Head of the Department for Animal Health Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture, Slobodan Draskovic, the Mayor of Medvedja, and the authorized representatives of the veterinary institutions from Nis and Lebane and veterinary inspectors, visited  the household whose flock of sheep was affected by the “bluetongue” disease.

On that occasion, Mr. Stankovic said that over 50 percent of the working population of that  municipality was engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding and that the “bluetongue” in cattle would significantly complicate the lives of people, because they made a living from cattle breeding.  

“We shall comply a letter by which we will we communicate to the competent Ministry and the Serbian Government what has been done so far.  We will propose the ways to help these people , not only in terms of monetary compensation for the material damage, but also in terms of what measures need to be taken to recover the remaining animals, Mr. Stankovic pointed out and stressed that it was a municipality which belonged to the poor and undeveloped ones. The suggestions made by expert field services will be presented to the authorities. He voiced the hope that the government would do everything , within the available means, to assist those people and to facilitate their life after the situation that had befallen them.

“This isn’t the only damage that hit Medvedja”, said Mr. Stankovic. “This municipality suffered severe damage from the heavy rainfall and flash floods twice this year.”

The Head of the Department of the Animal Health Protection in the Ministry of Agriculture, Budimir Plavsic, said that that was the first case of the bluetongue disease after 12 years when there was one case in 2002 in Zubin Potok in Kosovo and Metohija, adding that the disease had been regularly surveyed since then.  

“Veterinary services got organized back in July, when there was an outbreak of cattle disease in the neighboring countries, such as Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria. It’s then that we started controlling the borders, doing the serological, virological and entomological studies and raising the preparedness of veterinary services”, said Mr. Plavsic. This week, the disease appeared in Romania, too, whereas individual cases are registered in Kursumlija Vladicin Han, Targoviste, Bosilegrad, Bela Palanka, Pirot and Dimitrovgrad.    

Mr. Plavsic explained that it was necessary to know that the number of animals hit by the disease was relatively large, but that the mortality rate was small, and that is why no epidemic in the region was declared, but it was declared an infected area in which control and preventive measures would be implemented.  The most important thing is to conduct control of the insects in order to prevent them from attacking the susceptible animals and transmitting the disease. 

“It should be noted that the bluetongue disease is seasonal, occurring during the summer and early fall and disappearing by the arrival of cold days. Its appearance and spread is related to the environmental factors, such as large amounts of rainfall, high humidity and temperatures that favor the development of insects, which are vectors of the disease. This year has been extremely favorable for the development of these insects, which appeared in a large number of cases in the neighboring countries. The disease is present in Kosovo and Metohija, too “, explained Mr. Plavsic.

“Fortunately, the disease was noticed in a timely manner”, Mr. Plavsic said, adding that Serbia had no registered vaccine against bluetongue, so that the competent authorities should consider the possibility of importing the vaccine. 

The Zivkovic family from the municipality fears what will further happen to the cattle they own, since five out of thirty cattle have died so far

 “We live on cattle breeding. This is a disaster for us and we fear what will happen to the rest of the flock”, Mirko Zivkovic says.  

The mayor of Medvedja, Slobodan Draskovic, said that the inhabitants of the municipality expected that the state would help compensate for the dead cattle and with funds for the systematic destruction of mosquitoes that are vectors of the diseases.

“Out of 9, 000 heads, which is the total livestock of the municipality of Medvedja, 5, 000 are sheep, while around 2,500 heads were preventively treated”, said Mr. Draskovic.

Four teams of the Lebane veterinary station are present in the field. They inspected the terrain and carried out control and supervision of 31 settlements or  230 households with 3, 162 animals.    

2. 547 sheep and 82 cattle were medically treated in 29 settlements or in 90 households.  30 sheep died.

By order of the Veterinary Inspection, the competent veterinary specialist institute from Niš conducted the disinfestation on all 19 farms where the disease had been reported.  

Source: Coordination Body