Israel Matzav

'Tis the season for deja vu all over again in Egypt

The fifth of the ten plagues with which God afflicted the Egyptians some 3,000 years ago, to induce them to release their Jewish slaves, was dever, which is usually translated as 'pestilence.' Pestilence is a term that usually refers to a contagious disease and dever was a plague that affected animals. While we don't know for certain what disease is being described, one possibility is hoof in mouth disease.

It's ten days to Passover and guess what's going on in Egypt (Hat Tip: Elihu S).

Essam Abdel Shakur, the head of Egypt's central quarantine service, said 93,734 head of cattle are believed to have been hit by the disease since February, of which 9,022 had died.

The highest rate of infection is in the Nile Delta region, he said, cited by the official MENA news agency.

On Thursday, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned that a major new foot-and-mouth outbreak in Egypt could threaten the whole of North Africa and the Middle East.

The UN food agency said it was working with the Egyptian government to prevent the disease from spreading, but that failing to do so could have serious implications for food security in the region.

While foot-and-mouth disease has circulated in Egypt for some years "this is an entirely new introduction of a virus strain known as SAT2, and livestock have no immune protection against it," the FAO said.

Official estimates last week put the number of suspected cases at more than 40,000, with more than 4,600 animals, mostly calves, already dead.

Farmers have been urged to limit animal movement, avoid buying animals, and to burn or bury the carcasses of dead animals.

According to FAO's livestock census data, 6.3 million head of cattle and buffalo and 7.5 million sheep and goats are at risk in Egypt.

By the way, Jewish cattle was not affected by the plague 3,000 years ago.

Those who refuse to learn from history are destined to repeat it. Heh.

Labels: Egypt, Pesach

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:30 PM