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Bulgaria Registers First Case of FMD in 12 Years

The first case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has occurred in Bulgaria in the past 12 years on Wednesday.

A wild boar with FMD has been killed in the region of the south eastern Bulgarian city of Burgas. A 10 km security zone has been established and all vehicles passing through the region are being disinfected. All living animal trade in the Burgas region has been stopped.

The European Commission has already been informed about the accident.

FMD is highly contagious and, while it is not so dangerous for humans, a possible outbreak may cause severe economical damages, the Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov has explained.

"
Bulgaria may face a ban on the export of animal products if the disease is to spread,"
Naydenov has said.

Several centers of infection have already been registered in Turkey.

FMD is a sometimes fatal viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic animals such as cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs. Humans are very rarely affected.

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ONLY BULGARIA'S BURGAS REGION REMAINS UNDER FMD QUARANTINE

The Bulgarian National Veterinary Service has announced that the restrictive measures for the foot-and-mouth disease have been dropped in all but one regions in the country.

The restrictive measures have been dropped for the regions of Varna, Shumen, Yambol, Sliven, Haskovo and Kardzhali.

On Wednesday, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health at the European Commission decided that only the region of Burgas should remain under restriction order for FMD.

However, the Bulgarian National Veterinary Service has explained that the movement of animals will be allowed only within the restricted area, which includes the regions under quarantine.

In the region of Burgas, slaughtering will be allowed only for animals that come from farms with implemented biosecurity measures, outside the 10-km restricted zone where the outbreak of the disease is.

The Bulgarian Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, said Tuesday that out of 1600 FMD tests in the Burgas region, 12 goats, 14 sheep and a cow have been positive.

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EC will only cover up to 60% of the damages from the FMD outbreak in Bulgaria

The European Commission has announced that it will cover between 50 and 60 per cent of compensation to farmers from the Bulgarian village of Kosti following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

The slaughter of farm animals in Kosti, municipality of Bourgas, commenced on January 12 2011.

The absolute ceiling which the European Commission would pay in such circumstances is 75 per cent. But, in the past, it has never paid more than 60 per cent, Frédéric Vincent, the spokesperson for John Dalli, the EC Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, said.

"
First, we have to assess the situation and then we will determine the amount of compensation,"
Vincent said.

Earlier, on January 12, the Bulgarian Government and the Agriculture Ministry had promised that farmers would be compensated for 100 per cent of their loss, regardless of the EC's decision.

"
About 500 animals will be killed, for which 300 000 leva will be needed. The additional cost of tackling the outbreak means that the sum is likely to reach about a million leva,"
Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov told Dnevnik daily.

"
The difference will be covered by the State Budget,"
Naidenov said.

The minister said that farmers will be compensated not only for the loss of their animals, but for the loss of revenue from those animals.

"
For instance, if a cow costs 1000 leva, but the farmer earns 300 leva a month from milk production, we will compensate him to the tune of 1900 leva for that cow,"
Naidenov said, presumably alluding to compensation for three months' lost output.

Meanwhile, the quarantine around Varna, Shoumen, Yambol, Sliven, Haskovo and Kurdjali has been "
loosened"
, bTV reported. Farmers and retailers are allowed to trade, the report said, although Kosti will remain under quarantine.

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BULGARIAN STATE TO COMPENSATE FARMERS OVER FMD LOSSES

The Bulgarian state will provide BGN 300 to farmers from the village of Kosti, whose animals were slaughtered over cases of foot-and-mouth disease.

The statement was made Thursday by the Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov. The Finance Minister Simeon Djankov is visiting the village of Kosti in order to get details on the situation.

On Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov announced that Bulgaria will ask the European Commission to fully compensate not only farmers for the slaughtered animals, but also milk, meat and hide processors from the affected regions.

He stated that farmers will be reimbursed for the cost of the animals and three months of profits from them, while all expenses for the elimination of the disease would be undertaken by the government.

The slaughtering of animals in Kosti, which was ordered after the positive results of tests on animals in the region, is scheduled to end by the end of the week.

All ruminant animals were killed by Wednesday. The slaughtering of pigs is scheduled for Thursday and cows will follow from Friday on.

Kosti will remain under quarantine for three months while restrictions in other potentially dangerous areas were dropped on Wednesday.

Naydenov has explained the foot-and-mouth decease is not harmful for people and dismissed fears it can spread through milk and meat sold in grocery stores.

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FMD TO COST BULGARIA BGN 1M

Some BGN 1 M is the initially estimated cost of the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Bulgaria.

This was announced by the Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov during a sitting of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers. He was positive that no cases of the contagious disease have been registered outside the Southeastern region of Burgas.

Among a total of 2000 animals tested, the only cases of sick cattle have been detected in the village of Kosti. Earlier on Thursday, the Bulgarian government announced it will provide BGN 300 000 to farmers from Kosti, where the domestic animals were slaughtered over cases of foot-and-mouth disease.

On Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov announced that Bulgaria will ask the European Commission to fully compensate not only farmers for the slaughtered animals, but also milk, meat and hide processors from the affected regions.

Last Wednesday, the first case of foot-and-mouth disease occurred in Bulgaria in the past 12 years, detected in a wild boar, killed just outside Kosti.

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Footing the bill

Television viewers in Bulgaria were confronted with the sight of farmers in tears after the order was given to slaughter animals in an area struck by a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak – and then followed the vexed issue of compensation.

On January 12, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov said that he was confident that the disease would be contained by January 14. In the village of Kosti, in the Bourgas region, more than 500 animals had been slaughtered, he said.

After an alert by Bulgaria, the European Commission (EC) reacted rapidly, adopting urgent measures including a ban on the dispatch of live animals susceptible to the disease, including cattle, sheep and pigs, from the risk areas.

On January 10, Bulgaria’s veterinary authorities banned the trade in meat and milk in seven regions because of the foot-and mouth outbreak, and blocked the movement of animals and animal products from the regions of Bourgas, Varna, Shoumen, Sliven, Yambol, Haskovo and Kazanluk.

The EU’s standing committee on the food chain and animal health met on January 11 and 12 to discuss follow-up steps. This meeting was followed by a decision to lift the ban in all regions except that of Bourgas.

Financial compensation was an immediate concern. Naidenov said that farmers whose animals were killed would get 100 per cent compensation, based on market prices.

The EC office in Bulgaria said that the EU was ready to help financially. "
EU legislation provides for covering 60 per cent of the cost of compensating farmers and certain other expenses,"
a January 11 statement by the EC office in Sofia said.

A February 1 meeting was scheduled to be held in Budapest, involving the EC, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey to discuss the situation.

Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said on January 12 that laboratory tests in the UK had shown that the type of the virus was one that was circulating in Turkey and Iran.

On BNT on January 12, Kosti mayor Iliya Yazov said that people in the village were very upset about the loss of their animals, but he emphasised that strict measures had been needed to stop the spread of the illness.

The same day, Bulgarian media reported that farmers in areas outside the risk area were also slaughtering their animals, raising concerns that they would also seek compensation.

There was no immediate assessment of the financial impact of the outbreak, but a blow came with the announcement on January 10 that Ukraine was banning imports of animal products
from Bulgaria.

I glad to hear the outbreak is being managed and do hope that the farmers involved get all of the compensation they are entitled to. It's not easy making a living in Bulgaria especially if the things you depend on to make your living (ie cows/milk) are taken away from you.

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Suspicions of FDM Alarm 2nd Bulgarian Village

37 cases of livestock with FMD were found in Bulgaria in the beginning of last week.
There are suspicions of an animal having the foot-and-mouth decease (FMD) in a second Bulgarian village from the Strandzha region.

The news was reported late Saturday evening by the Mayor of the Black Sea town of Tsarevo, who confirmed there is a possibility of a sick animal in the Tsarevo municipality, in the village of Rezovo, but added the results of the tests are not yet ready.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian National TV, BNT, aired a report, showing a herd of 20 buffalos from nearby Turkey, grazing meters from the Rezovo stables. Local people showed the journalist animals which have come from Turkey, by crossing the border Rezovska River, months ago.

The first case of FMD was first discovered 10 days ago in another Tsarevo municipality village – Kosti, after 12 years of Bulgaria managing to keep the decease away. It is believed FMD spread in Kosti from a wild hog, coming from Turkey.

The Bulgarian Agriculture Ministry has vowed to offer full compensations to farmers.

Movement of domestic animals is banned in the Burgas Region, where the Tsarevo municipality is located.

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Outsiders barred from Bulgarian border town because of FMD risk

Bulgarian authorities have barred outsiders from entering the town of Rezovo, on the southern Black Sea coast at the Bulgarian - Turkish border, after tests indicated that some cattle in the area could be infected with foot-and-mouth disease.

Recent days have seen large-scale slaughter of cattle in the village of Kosti after a foot-and-mouth outbreak. Earlier, Bulgarian authorities said that the situation in Kosti would be under control by January 14.

A quarantine in several areas that had been imposed was lifted on January 13, with the exception of the Bourgas region.

Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said on January 16 that after a BNT report that Turkish buffalo were roaming into Bulgarian territory and feeding nearby cattle and sheep, veterinarians took urgent steps.

Blood tests on animals in Rezovo had indicated that it was possible that some cows and sheep had foot-and-mouth, the BNT report said.

Rezovo deputy mayor Nedyalka Ruzhina said that since a wire fence at the border had been removed 15 years ago, animals from Turkey had grazed freely on Bulgarian territory.

People in the area had no occupation other than farming and now were worried about their animals.

If tests confirm FMD, Rezovo's 90 cows, 60 sheep, 50 goats and 50 pigs will be killed and the area will be subjected to a three-month quarantine.

Border Police have stopped the entry of outsiders and a station for disinfecting vehicles was being built, BNT said.

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EU Experts Visit Bulgarian FMD-Affected Region

Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, says foot-and-mouth decease is not harmful for people and dismissed fears it can spread through milk and meat sold in grocery stores.
Experts from Brussels are expected in Bulgaria Monday to visit the country's southeastern region over the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FDM).

The results from the FDM tests from animals in the village of Rezovo are also expected Monday.

The farm animals have been gathered into one stable for prevention and over the possibility there might be a need to immediately slaughter them after the results are received.

The village of Rezovo is very close to the Turkish border, which reinforces the premise the disease came from south of the border. Local farmers are blaming the lack of control over the border allowing for animals from Turkey to freely cross it.

The entire municipality of Tsarevo, where Rezovo and the other infected village, Kosti, are located, has just 2 vets.

A disinfection station has already been opened 3 kilometers from the border;
there is 24-hours a day control, and movement is limited.

Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, have promised on several occasions 100% compensations to affected farmers. Borisov further informs the European Commission has been approached regarding these payments.

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FMD confirmed in Resovo

The animal samples taken for check up in the village of Resovo, South eastern Bulgaria have shown positive results for FMD, the national Veterinary Medical Service has announced. This means farm animals there should immediately be killed. The FMD focus registered several days ago in the village of Kosti in the Stranja Mountain has been put under control and the same measures would now be taken in Resovo. According to the Association of meat processing companies the FMD problem in Bulgaria is restricted and minimal. It would be dangerous only if it reaches large animal farms, which are quite far from the registered sites. The infected cattle in Kosti and Resovo is only for use in the households.

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Europe to monitor anti FMD measures in Bulgaria

European veterinary experts will arrive in Bulgaria to monitor measures implemented against the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the country, Dnevnik daily reported on January 17 2011.

FMD was confirmed in 37 animals in the southeastern village of Kosti near Bourgas for the first time in 12 years, prompting authorities to have all animals in the village destroyed. But in the aftermath, Bulgarian authorities have also barred outsiders from entering the town of Rezovo, on the southern Black Sea coast at the Bulgarian-Turkish border, after tests indicated that some cattle in the area could be infected with foot-and-mouth disease.

Results from field tests will be made available on the afternoon of January 17, the report said. If tests confirm FMD, Rezovo's 90 cows, 60 sheep, 50 goats and 50 pigs will be killed and the area subjected to a three-month quarantine. Prime Minister Boiko Borissov and Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov have repeatedly said that farmers will receive 100 per cent compensation for their livestock.

Recent days have seen large-scale slaughter of cattle in the village of Kosti after a foot-and-mouth outbreak.

A quarantine in several areas that had been imposed was lifted on January 13, with the exception of the Bourgas region.

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BULGARIA CONSIDERS BORDER FENCE WITH TURKEY OVER FMD

Bulgaria will demand financial support from the European Commission to rebuild its border fence with Turkey due to the danger of animals spreading foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

This was announced on Monday by the Head of State Veterinary Public Health Control Directorate Yordan Voynov on Monday.

"
It is otherwise impossible to follow each wild or domestic animal passing through the border,"
Voynov has explained.

Some 29 km of the 143 km Bulgarian-Turkish border are currently covered with a fence. The cost for the rest may be initially paid by the state budget and subsequently reimbursed by the EU.

Meanwhile, experts from Brussels visited Bulgaria Monday over the spread of FDM

Some of the results from the FDM tests from animals in the village of Rezovo, which is near Bulgaria's border with Turkey, have turned out positive. Around 200 cows, sheep and pigs will be slaughtered. Their owners will be fully compensated.

The FMD outbreak in Bulgaria started in the beginning of January after a wild boar, shot by hunters near the Turkish border at the end of 2010 in Bulgaria, tested positive. The EU implemented urgent protection measures.

Affected livestock has up to now only been found in two villages in the southeastern Burgas region .

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Bulgaria to Launch FMD Disinfection Tax on Turkish Border

Each vehicle passing through the Turkish-Bulgarian border will have to pay an at least EUR 2 disinfection tax, the measure aiming to stop the recent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Bulgaria.

Upon paying the tax, the vehicles will be thoroughly disinfected. The measure was announced by Yordan Voynov, Head of State Veterinary Public Health Control Directorate on Monday. Larger vehicles, including trucks and busses, will have to pay EUR 10.

Earlier on Monday, Voynov also proposed that border fence with Turkey shoud be rebuilt due to the danger of animals spreading the disease.

The FMD outbreak in Bulgaria started in the beginning of January after a wild boar, shot by hunters near the Turkish border at the end of 2010 in Bulgaria, tested positive. The EU implemented urgent protection measures.

Around 200 cows, sheep and pigs in the southeastern Bulgarian village of Rezovo. Their owners will be fully compensated.

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FMD Drives Bulgaria to Rebuild Cold War Fence on Turkey Border

Rezovo is a village on the Bulgarian-Turkish border close to the Black Sea coast.
Bulgaria's government will start to restore the fence along the Bulgarian Turkish border, which existed in the Cold War period, as a measure against the spread of food-and-mouth disease (FMD).

This was announced on Tuesday by Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov in the village of Rezovo in Bulgaria's southeasternmost corner, where the Bulgarian authorities localized a second outbreak of FMD, in addition to the cases in the nearby village of Kosti in the Burgas District.

Naydenov stated that he has already had talks with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who has approved the measure, and that the government will used money from the state budget to start rebuilding the old barbed wire fence.

The project is to be discussed with the District Governor of Burgas Konstantin Grebenarov, and the restoration of the fence is supposed to start as soon as the authorities eliminate the cases of FMD in Rezovo.

Naydenov said the holders of local hunting tourism estates will not be compensated for any losses from the FMD spread, unlike the owners of domestic animals slaughtered to contain the outbreak of FMD.

On Monday, the Head of State Veterinary Public Health Control Directorate Yordan Voynov argued that the border fence is the only way to prevent FMD-infected animals from Turkey from crossing into Bulgaria.

He said that some 29 km of the 143 km Bulgarian-Turkish border are currently covered with a fence, and that cost for the rest may be initially paid by the state budget and subsequently reimbursed by the EU. Also on Monday, experts from Brussels visited Bulgaria over the spread of FDM.

Some of the results from the FDM tests from animals in the village of Rezovo, which is near Bulgaria's border with Turkey, have turned out positive. Around 200 cows, sheep and pigs will be slaughtered. Their owners will be fully compensated.

The FMD outbreak in Bulgaria started at the beginning of January after a wild boar, shot by hunters near the Turkish border at the end of 2010 in Bulgaria, tested positive. The EU implemented urgent protection measures.

The Commission has vowed to help out Bulgaria with compensations for the losses by covering the maximum amount allowed under EU law, 60%, arguing that as an external EU border, Bulgaria is serving as a buffer to the spread of contaminations such as FMD.

In the Cold War period the Bulgarian-Turkish border was a border between the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact and NATO, and as such was one of the most-heavily fortified borders in Europe. Since the early 1990s, Bulgaria has torn down its border fortifications and has ever dismissed its Third Army, which was deployed in the area.

Because of the enormous amount of military equipment and high number of soldiers concentrated in Southeastern Bulgaria the area among the towns of Elhovo, Grudovo (today called Sredets), and Zvezdets was known as the “Triangle of Death.”

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EC Approves of Bulgaria's FMD Measures, Provides Support

Rezovo is a village on the Bulgarian-Turkish border close to the Black Sea coast.
The European Commission is contented with the measures that Bulgaria has taken to fight the foot-and-mouth disease in the village of Rezovo and is ready to provide full technical and financial support, the Bulgarian Agriculture Ministry announced.

On Wednesday, the Bulgarian Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, visited Rezovo, where the authorities localized a second outbreak of FMD, in addition to the cases in the nearby village of Kosti in the Burgas District.

In Rezovo, 200 animals owned by 11 farmers have already been slaughtered.

"
The owners will receive the first compensations of BGN 300 within days. They will also receive additional compensations for the loss of milk yield because of the 3-month quarantine, which would prevent them from breeding animals,"
Naydenov said.

The minister pointed out that the farmers from Kosti have already received their first compensations of BGN 300.

A 3-month quarantine was declared in Rezovo. People who do not live in the village would not be allowed to pass in a radius of 4 km. All vehicles leaving the area will be disinfected.

At the beginning of January, it was announced about the first case of FMD in Bulgaria in the past 12 years. It was found in a wild boar that has been killed in the region of the southeastern city of Burgas.