Almost forty years after the last epidemic of its kind, Germany is trying to contain a new foot-and-mouth crisis that is worrying neighbouring countries, while the European Commission said on Thursday 16 January that it was monitoring the situation closely.
The German Minister for Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, held talks on the subject with the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, on Thursday.
Last week, three water buffalo died in a pasture due to foot-and-mouth disease in Märkisch-Oderland. As a precautionary measure, dozens of farm animals within a one-kilometre radius were killed. A protection zone with a radius of at least 3 kilometres and a surveillance zone with a radius of at least 10 kilometres have been established.
The Commission has indicated that there is a vaccine, an antigen bank that it manages. “But to vaccinate animals, you need a strategy. For the time being, the outbreak is not large enough to be considered for”, according to the institution.
The German authorities have implemented EU legislation (https://aeur.eu/f/f33 ). The Commission concluded that the principle of regionalisation (zoning of measures) had been applied. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)