Image by Long Nguyen from Pixabay, a buffalo in a close-up
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Germany rushes to contain FMD outbreak amid export fears
On Monday, Germany was taking steps to limit the possible spread of foot-and-mouth disease, as the outbreak of the virus threatened to hit the country's agricultural exports.
South Korea and Mexico informed Berlin that they would suspend pork imports from Germany while the cases were being contained, a spokesman for Germany's agriculture ministry said.
“We now have to wait and see how this develops over the next few days,” spokesman Michael Hauck told reporters at a regular press conference.
The head of the German farmers' union, Joachim Rukwied, said the disease was threatening livestock owners with “considerable” losses.
“Export markets will disappear” if the virus is allowed to spread, Rukwied told the Rheinische Post newspaper. “Speed and determination are important. Everything must be done to contain this outbreak.”
Three cases of foot-and-mouth disease were reported in water buffalo on a farm near Berlin on Friday, the first reported incidence of the virus in Germany since 1988.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral infection that is not dangerous to humans but affects cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals, including sheep and pigs.
Symptoms include fever and blisters in the mouth and near the hoof.
The three infected water buffalo died and the other 11 animals in the herd were slaughtered.
A three-kilometer exclusion zone has been set up around the farm where the buffalo were kept, in the eastern Brandenburg region, which surrounds Berlin.
The authorities have ordered all animals in the area that could have contracted the disease to be tested.
So far, no other cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been identified, said Brandenburg's agriculture minister, Hanka Mittelstaedt.
“As of this morning, the samples that are currently being evaluated have no longer shown any positive results,” Mittelstaedt told regional broadcaster RBB.
The 72-hour ban on the transportation of livestock and meat products at risk in Brandenburg was scheduled to end on Monday evening.
It is not yet known whether it will be extended, Mittelstaedt said.
Another 55 hay-fed animals from the affected farm were due to be slaughtered on Monday as a precaution, RBB said.
Although Mexico and South Korea have imposed export restrictions, trade within the EU's single market is still possible for products that “don't come from the restricted zones”, said ministry spokesman Hauck.
Over the weekend, Berlin's two zoos remained closed to the public as a precautionary measure.
Similarly, no cattle, pigs, sheep, or goats would be allowed at a large agricultural fair, which will open in Berlin on Friday.
The restrictions at the “Gruene Woche” (Green Week) fair were intended to limit the spread of the disease, the Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday.
In previous outbreaks in Europe, more than 2,000 animals were slaughtered to control the disease in the UK after an outbreak in 2007, according to the British government.
In 2011, hundreds of animals were slaughtered in Bulgaria following an outbreak in the country.
bur-sea/fz/sbk
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