Mongolia Seals Area of Suspected Foot-And-Mouth

ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - Mongolia has virtually sealed off large parts of two eastern provinces to prevent the spread of a suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, officials said on Wednesday.

More than 500 animals have died of what appeared to be the highly contagious disease which affects cloven-footed animals, and another 600 appeared to be suffering from it, they said.

Laboratory tests in Russia to confirm an outbreak have not yet been completed but urgent measures are being taken to prevent any outbreak from spreading, the officials said.

Large parts of the eastern provinces of Dornod and Sukhbaatar provinces have been sealed off to outsiders, they said.

Hundreds of animals died last May in the province of Eastern Gobi in an outbreak of the disease.