Germany declared free of foot-and-mouth disease, says ministry

BERLIN: Germany has been certified as free of foot-and-mouth disease by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), the federal agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.

Germany announced its first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease since 1988 on January 10 in a herd of water buffalo on the outskirts of Berlin, in the Brandenburg region.

The status of being free of the disease had been reinstated for most of Germany except the containment zone in mid-March. Britain lifted a ban on imports of German livestock and animal products shortly after.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious, but usually non-fatal, viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals which may also affect certain other species.

Hungary reported a first case in over 50 years on a cattle farm near the border with Austria and Slovakia in March.

(Reporting by Holger Hansen, writing by Kirsti Knolle, Editing by Madeline Chambers)