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

LEV L Hungary AP Functionaries in several countries in Central Europe are working to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth affection among cattle populations that has caused widespread territory line 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 malady in either country in more than half a century Everything is totally upside down in the area as farmers fear for their own herds and transportation is disrupted by edge closures stated S ndor Szoboszlai a local entrepreneur and hunter in the Hungarian town of Lev l where nearly cattle had to be culled after the ailment was discovered on a farm We didn t even think such a thing could happen Who could count on that Nobody he declared 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 condition 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 personnel in Hungary continued to conduct operations aimed at stopping the spread of the complaint 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 multiple of those mats rapidly went dry and were swept partially off the road by passing vehicles This week the Slovakian leadership citing insufficient containment measures by Hungary closed of their common borders and one with Austria all of them lesser-trafficked crossings so functionaries can focus on conducting edge checks at the major ones Last week Austria where there have been no published cases closed of its confines crossings with Hungary and Slovakia Personnel in the Czech Republic relatively distant from the Hungarian and Slovakian farms where the disorder has been detected have introduced disinfection measures at all the five boundary crossings used by freight trucks entering the country Jiri Cerny associate professor at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague declared the the bulk vital danger 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 disclosed the restrictions could be lifted days after the last farm animal infected with foot-and-mouth illness 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 revealed on Friday Earlier this week a Hungarian official announced in a news conference that the foot-and-mouth affection outbreak may have been caused by an artificially produced virus Without citing specific evidence to back his asserts Gergely Guly s chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb n revealed it couldn t be ruled out that the sickness had been issued 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 cabinet 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 growing 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 explained It will be very complex to start over Karel Janicek and Stanislav Hodina in Prague Czech Republic contributed Source