Negative tests rule out second outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Germany

A second outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been ruled out in Germany, after a number of animals tested negative for the disease.

The suspected outbreak was found in a number of animals, understood to be goats, during examination on Wednesday in the Barnim district, which neighbours the area where the first outbreak was.

“The findings of both the state laboratory and the National Reference Laboratory (FLI) show that the suspected case in an animal facility in the Werneuchen district of Wilmersdorf has not been confirmed,” a spokesperson for the local council in Barnim said on Friday morning.

"Despite this good news, the situation remains tense," district administrator Daniel Kurth said.

"Numerous samples that have been taken in the past few days and are still to be taken still need to be evaluated. The situation is also still highly sensitive."

Due to the continued risk posed by the disease in the neighbouring district of Märkisch Oderland, extreme caution is still required.

Monitoring

The Barnim district is maintaining strict monitoring and protection measures in order to detect a possible outbreak at an early stage and prevent it from spreading.

The public continues to be asked to be more vigilant. In particular, animal owners in the restricted zone, those within the 10km radius around the outbreak site, are asked to report any abnormalities and to observe the provisions of the currently applicable movement rules.

The bans on activities listed there for animal owners and farmers in the protection and surveillance zone apply until the general animal disease control order is lifted, even if the state's movement ban is not extended again.

German authorities will examine more farms in the area this Friday and test animals for the disease.

Outbreak

It has been one week since three water buffalo in Brandenberg tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease.

It is the first time the disease has been identified in the EU for 14 years.

All 11 water buffalo that were on the farm were slaughtered and widespread testing of animals is continuing in the area.