Authorities in several countries in Central Europe are working to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among cattle populations that has caused widespread border closures and required the killing of thousands of animals.

The outbreak was first detected on a cattle farm in northwestern Hungary in early March, and animals on three farms in neighbouring Slovakia tested positive for the highly transmissible virus two weeks later.

Since then, animals from an additional three farms in Hungary and another three in Slovakia have tested positive for the virus, the first outbreak of the disease in either country in more than half a century.

The Slovakian government, citing insufficient containment measures by Hungary, has closed 16 of their common borders and one with Austria, all of them lesser-trafficked crossings so authorities can focus on conducting border checks at the major ones.

Last week, Austria – where there have been no reported cases – closed 23 of its border crossings with Hungary and Slovakia.

Authorities in the Czech Republic, relatively distant from the Hungarian and Slovakian farms where the disease has been detected, have introduced disinfection measures at all the five border crossings used by freight trucks entering the country.

The Czech Agriculture Minister, Marek Výborný, has said the restrictions could be lifted 30 days after the last farm animal infected with foot-and-mouth disease has been culled in Slovakia.

No new infections were discovered in Hungary last week, and the cleanup of the last infected farms was expected to be completed on Saturday, István Nagy, Hungary’s agricultural minister said on Friday.

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