Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), a fatal livestock disease, has broken out in Mbarara District, western Uganda, the district veterinary officer has said.

"There is FMD in the district. It is in Rubaya Sub-county and two farms are affected," Lewis Barigye, the veterinary officer, was quoted by Monitor as saying on Saturday.

"We have stated with Rubaya. Quarantine has been put on livestock and their products from the area. We are also mobilizing farmers and sensitizing district leaders to fight it," he added.

The disease spreads fast during the dry season because cattle keepers without permanent water and pasture share communal water points like lake and dams, and grazing fields.

Barigye said they are trying to find out its origin.

The disease broke out in the Ankole and Masaka cattle corridor in 2006, and later spread to over 20 districts in central, eastern and northeastern Uganda.

It was fought and eradicated by employing vaccination and quarantine measures.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2008)