Foot-and-mouth disease has been spotted in additional 39 communes in 12 cities and provinces of Vietnam since early this month, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Wednesday.

To date, the disease has jumped to 467 communes in 41 localities across the country, hitting nearly 15,400 bulls and buffaloes, and roughly 2,500 pigs, the paper quoted sources from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Three provinces, Tuyen Quang in the north, and Ba Ria Vung Tau and Binh Duong in the south, have recently declared foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in their territories. Earlier, 25 out of the 41 affected localities have announced the outbreaks, said the ministry's Department of Animal Health.

Vietnam is intensifying control over cattle transport and trade in affected areas, and surveillance of the disease and vaccination of healthy animals. It is expected to import some 11 million doses of foot-and-mouth vaccines between mid-June and September.

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2006)