Slovakia confirms first foot-and-mouth disease cases in over 50 years

Slovakia has confirmed its first cases of foot-and-mouth disease in more than 50 years, as announced on Friday the 21st by Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč to media outlets including the Denník N news portal. Outbreaks of the disease were detected at three properties in the south of the country, near the border with Hungary.

Following the announcement of cases in Slovakia, the Czech Republic responded swiftly by imposing various restrictions. Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný posted Thursday on his X account that emergency measures had been adopted, including a ban on livestock imports from Slovakia and the restriction of entry for breeders and farmers who have been in contact with Slovak animals.

The three affected farms in Slovakia have around 1,300 animals and are located near the Hungarian region of Kisbajcs, where an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was detected two weeks earlier on a farm with 1,400 head of cattle.

Foot-and-mouth disease resurfaced in Europe at the beginning of this year, with a case reported in a buffalo herd in Germany in January. Previously, the last major outbreak on the continent had occurred in 2011 in Bulgaria.