German authorities have reported the country’s first outbreak of foot and mouth disease in nearly 40 years.

The outbreak was detected on a farm in the Märkisch-Oderland district in the eastern part of Brandenburg State, which is highlighted in red in the above map.
The virus was detected in three dead water buffalo on a farm in the state of Brandenburg on the outskirts of Berlin.
It is understood the animals had initially been tested on suspicion of having been infected by Bluetongue disease, which has been spreading across Europe since 2023.
However an official notification from the World Organization for Animal Health on Saturday confirmed FMD, not bluetongue, as the cause.
The remaining 11 animals in the herd have been destroyed, according to authorities, with an exclusion zone of 3 kilometres and a monitoring zone of 10km placed around the farm at the centre of the outbreak.
The last reported outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Germany occurred in Lower Saxony in 1988, and the last positive case in Europe was detected in Bulgaria in 2011.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a serious and highly contagious animal disease that affects all cloven-hoofed animals including cattle, sheep, goats, camelids, deer and pigs.
FMD is a disease of animals, not humans, and is not transmitted to humans by eating affected meat.
FMD virus is carried by live animals and in meat and dairy products, as well as in soil, bones, untreated hides, vehicles and equipment used with susceptible animals. It can also be carried on people’s clothing and footwear and survive in frozen, chilled and freeze-dried foods.
Most affected herds are culled. A 2001 outbreak in the UK lasted for six months and resulted in the destruction of more than four million animals including three million sheep, 600,000 cattle and 138,000 pigs in 2002 infected holdings and 7076 contact premises.
Germany is an exporter of beef, dairy and pork products and live cattle, sheep and pigs to a range of countries across Europe and around the world.
The Netherlands, which has imported more than 3600 calves from the German state of Brandenburg since December 1, has placed a nationwide ban on the movement of veal calves, except where the calves are moved directly to slaughter, in the wake of the FMD outbreak in Germany.
South Korea has announced a ban on German pork imports following the detection.
Irish agriculture minister Charlie McConalogue released a statement sympathising with German farmers, particularly those directly afected by the outbreak, and urging Irish farmers to stay vigilant.
He said no animals susceptible to FMD had been imported from Germany to Ireland since November 1, which was “long before the herd in Germany had been first infected”.
“Ireland’s controls to prevent FMD include strict prohibitions on the imports of animals and animal products from countries in which FMD is present; a comprehensive veterinary surveillance system to detect unusual disease outbreaks; and active follow up and veterinary investigation of any suspects reports.”
Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foresty said is working to assess the biosecurity risk to Australia and what this might mean for import conditions of a number of impacted commodities, including:
- Dairy that is sourced, manufactured or exported from Germany.
- Personal dairy and beef food items imported as passenger personal effects or through the mail into Australia from Germany.
- Reproductive material derived from cattle, sheep, goats, zoo bovids, giraffe or elephants sourced or exported from Germany.
- Veterinary therapeutics containing or derived from bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine, cervine or camelid materials sourced, manufactured or exported from Germany.
- Pet food and stock feed containing or derived from bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine, cervine or camelid materials sourced, manufactured or exported from Germany.
- Laboratory goods containing bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine, cervine and camelid fluids and tissues (including but not limited to test kits, animal fluids and tissues, culture media, foetal bovine serum, environmental samples and other laboratory materials) sourced, manufactured or exported from Germany.
It said it has removed Germany from the list of FMD-free countries effective 14 November 2024.
Any commercial dairy consignment or personal quantities of dairy and beef food items from Germany would be held under biosecurity control, effective immediately.
“Over the coming days the department will undertake a detailed assessment of all traded goods from Germany and may introduce additional import restrictions for commodities, including pet food, stock feed, laboratory reagents and reproductive material.”
The traceback result would be interesting. Where did the incursion originate and how did it bypass German biosecurity?
Major problem with fmd is visually it is impossible to differentiate with vesicular stomatitis