March 6, 2006

Swine fever outbreak reported at German farm

A swine fever outbreak at a pig farm in western Germany has killed 70 animals, a regional official said Friday.

Authorities established a three-kilometre exclusion zone around the farm near the town of Recklinghausen, banning animal transport in the area, said Eckhard Uhlenberg, the agriculture minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.

The remaining 230 pigs at the farm were to be slaughtered to prevent the disease spreading, he said.

Germany's federal Agriculture Ministry said the European Commission and other EU member countries had been informed of the outbreak.