Lab tests reveal no further foot-and-mouth in German livestock

There have been no further outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Germany, Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir said on Friday, after laboratory analysis disproved reports of a second suspected case, reported dpa.

"The status today is that there is no second positive case," Özdemir told the Deutschlandfunk radio station.

A number of countries, including the United Kingdom and South Korea, have already banned German meat imports after an initial outbreak was confirmed at a buffalo farm near Berlin a week ago, the first in Germany for more than 35 years.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, causing high fever and blisters in the mouth and hoof area.

It is not dangerous to humans but can spread quickly among livestock, bringing serious consequences for the agricultural sector.

German authorities have acted quickly to cull animals in a restricted zone around the site of the outbreak in the eastern state of Brandenburg, but reports of a second affected farm in the Barnim district caused widespread concern on Thursday.

A spokesman for the district said samples were immediately taken from the herd of goats suspected of having FMD and sent to a laboratory at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Germany's national institute for animal disease.

The results of the testing on Thursday night showed that there was "no further outbreak of FMD," the Brandenburg Agriculture Ministry said early on Friday.

"Germany is still not free of foot-and-mouth disease, but at least the disease has not spread as of today," Özdemir added.

However, the cause of the initial outbreak is still unclear, the minister said. "We also urgently need this information."