January 14, 2025

 

Germany confirms FMD case for first time since 1988

 

 

Germany on January 10 registered three cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in water buffalo on a farm near Berlin, the country's first reported cases of the livestock disease since 1988.

 

The cases in the eastern state of Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin, were confirmed by the federal government's Institute for Animal Health. The outbreak affected a group of 14 animals, three of which had died, Brandenburg's environment ministry said.

 

The local district ordered the rest of the herd to be culled to contain the potential spread of the virus, the ministry said.

 

Food and agriculture ministry spokesman Michael Hauck said it was Germany's first outbreak since 1988.

 

"Exclusion zones three kilometres (about two miles) wide and surveillance zones 10 kilometres wide have been set up," Hauck told a regular government press conference.

 

Following the confirmation of the outbreak, federal Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir convened a crisis committee meeting with state officials to discuss their response.

 

"Now it is a matter of finding out as quickly as possible which route the virus took" to reach Germany, Ozdemir said in a statement.

 

It was currently not possible to say whether other livestock had been infected with the virus, his ministry said.

 

The state of Brandenburg prohibited the movement of "transport of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and camelids" for 72 hours while checks were carried out.

 

The transport ban would also apply to "carcasses or parts of these animals and manure", the ministry said, with the order coming into force on January 11.

 

Water buffalo have been in Germany since the 1990s, according to the Berlin state government. They are farmed for their milk and meat and used to control grass growth on fields.

 

- AFP