Foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Central Europe leads to animal culls and border closures

LEV L Hungary AP Administration in several countries in Central Europe are working to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth malady among cattle populations that has caused widespread confines closures and required the killing of thousands of animals The outbreak was first detected on a cattle farm in northwestern Hungary in early March and animals on three farms in neighboring Slovakia tested positive for the highly transmissible virus two weeks later Since then animals from an additional three farms in Hungary and another three in Slovakia have tested positive for the virus the first outbreak of the sickness in either country in more than half a century Everything is altogether upside down in the area as farmers fear for their own herds and transportation is disrupted by dividing line closures mentioned S ndor Szoboszlai a local entrepreneur and hunter in the Hungarian town of Lev l where nearly cattle had to be culled after the syndrome was discovered on a farm We didn t even think such a thing could happen Who could count on that Nobody he stated There are big farms in the area but I don t think it was the fault of the animal owners that s for sure The wind blew it here Foot-and-mouth syndrome primarily affects cloven-hooved animals like cattle sheep goats pigs and deer and results in fevers and blisters in the mouth and hooves The virus spreads through contact between animals or on surfaces like clothing skin and vehicles or on the wind It poses little danger to humans On Friday agents in Hungary continued to conduct operations aimed at stopping the spread of the ailment and disinfecting affected farms and vehicles in the area Mats doused in a powerful disinfectant were placed at the entrances and exits of towns and villages across the region to eliminate virus molecules that may cling to tires though plenty of of those mats fast went dry and were swept partially off the road by passing vehicles This week the Slovakian cabinet citing insufficient containment measures by Hungary closed of their common borders and one with Austria all of them lesser-trafficked crossings so agents can focus on conducting territory line checks at the major ones Last week Austria where there have been no stated cases closed of its boundary crossings with Hungary and Slovakia Officers in the Czech Republic relatively distant from the Hungarian and Slovakian farms where the syndrome has been detected have introduced disinfection measures at all the five dividing line crossings used by freight trucks entering the country Jiri Cerny associate professor at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague explained the largest part key vulnerability of transmission is through contaminated human objects such as tires and cars on the soles of shoes and through contaminated food The Czech Agriculture Minister Marek V born has announced the restrictions could be lifted days after the last farm animal infected with foot-and-mouth sickness has been culled in Slovakia No new infections have been discovered in Hungary this week and the cleanup of the last infected farms will likely be completed on Saturday Istv n Nagy Hungary s agricultural minister stated on Friday Earlier this week a Hungarian official declared in a news conference that the foot-and-mouth malady outbreak may have been caused by an artificially produced virus Without citing specific evidence to back his declares Gergely Guly s chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb n mentioned it couldn t be ruled out that the sickness had been published in Hungary as a biological attack adding that the suspicion was based on verbal statements from a laboratory in a foreign country that had begun initial analysis of viral samples Hungary s authorities has promised to institute a loan payment moratorium for affected farmers and to help compensate them for the loss of their animals and assist in emerging measures on farms to prevent future outbreaks Szoboszlai the hunter in Lev l choked up when speaking about the local farmer who had to cull his entire herd when the virus appeared saying the situation was terrible I feel so sorry for him because this is his life s work he disclosed It will be very hard to start over Karel Janicek and Stanislav Hodina in Prague Czech Republic contributed Source