Vietnam's southern Ben Tre province has recently been stricken by foot-and-mouth disease, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Thursday.

The disease broke out in the province's Mo Cay district, affecting 29 pigs, the paper quoted the provincial Veterinary Bureau as reporting.

The bureau has detoxificated affected farms, and vaccinated healthy cattle.

However, the Department of Animal Health under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has yet to announce outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the province.

Now, the disease is hitting 31 communes in 10 provinces, namely Lai Chau in the north, and Phu Yen, Kon Tum, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Khanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Dac Lac, and Thua Thien Hue in the central region, said the department.

Under a national agriculture development plan approved by the government in 2005, Vietnam will, by 2010, have 35-40 million pigs, 6.5-6.7 million bulls and cows, 2.8-3 million buffaloes, and 380- 390 million poultry.

Source: Xinhua