143 cows from the Bulgaria's Burgas district will be killed after they were found positive for FMD. Photo by BGNES
A new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has been discovered in Bulgaria's Burgas district, a day before the European Commission was expected to lift the measures, imposed on the area because of the previous FMD cases.
A total of 143 animals will be killed after the virus was discovered in the tissue of cows during a routine check at a private farm near the village of Kirovo, close to the border with Turkey.
The blood samples for FMD turned out negative, which means that the contamination is a week-old, according to experts from the Food Safety Agency.
They think that the virus may have again been transmitted from wild animals because the farm is located in a forest area where the cows grazed freely.
All necessary measures have been taken to limit the infection and to eliminate the animals.
The European Commission has been notified about the situation in the Burgas district.
On Monday, samples from infected animals will be sent to a EU laboratory. Genetic tests will identify the source of the infection.
The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency has ordered two surveillance areas. One will be with a radius of 3 km from the outbreak of FMD. All animals from this area will be killed.
The other area will have a radius of 10 km and all animals there will bet tested for the disease.