KARACHI, July 9: Up to five new cases of foot-and-mouth diseases (FMDs) are being reported every day at the government veterinary hospital located in Landhi Cattle Colony while an unspecified number of cases are received by private clinics. Most of the affected cattle appeared to be cows and young calves, according to the doctors working at the colony.

“Though the number of FMD cases arriving in the Cattle Colony hospital over the past few days reflects a surge, the situation could not be described as an outbreak,” they said.

‘‘We have asked the government for the provision of the relevant vaccination doses,” said Dr Hafeez Shaikh, a senior veterinary officer and in-charge of the veterinary hospital, the only government hospital in the colony.

About the number of such cases received by private veterinary clinics, Dr Khurshid Alam, a private vet, said he could not give an exact figure but it could be said that at the moment, some 20 to 25 per cent of the 25,000 cows might have contracted the diseases.

He agreed to the idea that the victims of the contagious viral diseases were mostly cows and young calves. “The cows would survive the viral attack after receiving treatment but calves are showing a high mortality rate,” he observed. He pointed out that the affected calves contracted the diseases during the feeding process.

There are also some cases of haemorrhagic septicemia, a highly fatal bacterial disease, and pneumonia reported from the Cattle Colony, home to about 400,000 animals. On Sunday, a relief camp was set up at the colony by the city government where free medicines for parasitic diseases were distributed among owners of some 22,000 animals.