Berlin – The suspicion of another animal being infected with foot-and-mouth disease has not been confirmed in Germany. Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir told the Deutschlandfunk station today. The regional daily Märkische Oderzeitung reported on Thursday that after confirming the highly infectious disease at a buffalo farm near Berlin, veterinarians are investigating another suspected case at another farm. However, the specialist laboratory did not confirm the infection in the end.
“The situation as of today is that we do not have another positive case,” Özdemir said. Experts from the Friedrich Loeffler Veterinary Institute (FLI) examined a sample taken from a slaughtered goat from a farm in the Barnim district, which is located in Brandenburg between Berlin and the Polish border, during the night of today. “Germany is not without foot-and-mouth disease, but at least the infection is not spreading to this day,” added the Minister of Agriculture.
Last week, veterinarians confirmed foot-and-mouth disease in a domestic buffalo from a farm in Hönow, a town in Brandenburg just on the eastern border of Berlin. This is the first case in Germany since 1988. A three-kilometer protective and ten-kilometer monitoring zone was established in the vicinity. Last week, Brandenburg also issued a ban on transporting animals around Hönow. While the zones will remain in place, the ban on the transport of cloven-hoofed animals will cease to apply from Saturday.
On Tuesday, Britain banned the import of ham and other meat and dairy products from Germany. South Korea and Mexico have already banned the import of pork from Germany. This week, the Czech State Veterinary Administration called on Czech breeders to increase compliance with biological safety rules.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly infectious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. It also affects wild animals, such as wild boar. The disease shows high morbidity but low mortality. Typical clinical symptoms initially include fever, reduced milk production, loss of appetite, depression, these initial symptoms are followed by the appearance of blisters that burst and form open lesions, affecting the oral cavity, nostrils, mammary gland, and limbs.
It is not dangerous for humans, but humans can be carriers. The infection can also be carried by the wind or on the cars or clothes of people who come into contact with infected animals. The last time the disease occurred in the Czech Republic was in 1975. The distance between the German outbreak and the Czech border is approximately 170 kilometers. In Europe, the last FMD epidemic was in 2011 in Bulgaria.
In 2001, the epidemic hit Britain, where it caused significant economic and social damage. Subsequently, it also spread to France, Ireland and the Netherlands. The disease is still found in Turkey, the Middle East and Africa, many countries in Asia and parts of South America. Illegally imported animal products from these countries pose a constant threat to European agriculture, according to veterinarians.
Germany breeding health
Source: www.ceskenoviny.cz
