Foot-and-mouth fear in Central Europe leads to border closures, animal culls

Authorities in several countries in Central Europe are working to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among cattle populations that has caused widespread border 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 neighbouring 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 disease in either country in more than half a century.

“Everything is completely upside down” in the area as farmers fear for their own herds and transport is disrupted by border closures, said Sándor Szoboszlai, a local entrepreneur and hunter in the Hungarian town of Levél where nearly 3,000 cattle had to be culled after the disease was discovered on a farm.

“We didn’t even think such a thing could happen. Who could count on that? Nobody,” he said. “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 disease primarily affects cloven-hoofed 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.