Vietnam's northern Bac Can province has recently been stricken by foot-and-mouth disease, local newspaper Vietnam Agriculture reported Friday.

The disease broke out in the province's Ngan Son district, affecting at least 55 bulls and buffaloes, the paper quoted the provincial Veterinary Bureau as saying.

The bureau has detoxificated affected farms, and isolated infected 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 and 2.8-3 million buffaloes.

Source: Xinhua