István Nagy confirmed that no new infections had been detected.Continue reading
The culling and disposal of colonies infected with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Darnózseli and Dunakiliti (northwestern Hungary) has been completed, but the disinfection of the farms is still ongoing, the National Food Chain Safety Office announced on its website on Monday.
They stressed that no new cases of the virus had been confirmed by their laboratory, but the virus has an average incubation period of 14 days in cattle. It is therefore of the utmost importance that livestock farmers and animal care workers consistently comply with the disease control measures in their own interest.
It was recalled that in Darnózseli and Dunakiliti in the county of Győr-Moson-Sopron, the Office confirmed the disease in early April. Vaccination of cattle on the farms was carried out on the same day to minimize virus shedding until their eradication. The eradication of the herds is now complete. 3,588 animals have been disposed of at the two sites, and around 8,300 in total since the beginning of March when FMD was first detected in Hungary.
According to the statement, testing of susceptible animals is ongoing throughout the country: more than 1,200 livestock holdings and 700 wild game samples have already been tested by the National Food Chain Safety Office’s laboratory and no new cases of infection have been confirmed.
It is of the utmost importance that livestock farmers strictly follow all regulations and animal health rules to ensure that they do not introduce the infection into their farms, even by accident. To help control the disease, the Office will distribute more than 1,250 10 liter bottles of disinfectant to municipalities in the restricted area this week and almost 100,000 leaflets to local residents through government offices.
The authority is also carrying out on-site inspections of animal holdings across the country to check compliance with the rules.
Meanwhile, Romania has tightened precautionary measures due to the spread of the foot-and-mouth disease virus in Europe, including a ban on live animal imports from Hungary, the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) announced on Friday.
According to a statement from the authority, the National Center for Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Control held an extraordinary meeting on Friday and adopted a package of measures to prevent the spread of FMD in Romania.
As part of the package, the importation of live animals, feed, straw, compost and manure from Hungary into Romania has been banned.
They reminded that four outbreaks of the disease have been identified in Hungary, six in Slovakia and one in Germany.
Via MTI, Featured photo via MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Benko Vivien Cher
