Takac: Two New Epicenters of Foot-and-mouth Disease in Hungary Confirmed

Bratislava, April 2 (TASR) - The presence of two new epicenters of foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed in Hungary: in the villages of Dunakiliti and Darnozseli, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Richard Takac (Smer-SD) announced before a session of the Government on Wednesday. Takac added that the two farms have 2,500 and 1,000 dairy cows, respectively. "Hence, we know that the virus is present in the given region. On Tuesday (April 1), we learnt that they were running tests and this morning, based on laboratory results, they confirmed its incidence. The situation is quite serious then," said Takac. Because of this, the minister called on farmers to comply with all measures in order to stop the further spreading of disease. He detailed that slaughtered cattle from Plavecky Stvrtok will be liquidated at a facility in Zilina and buried in as-of-yet unspecified location. "All locations currently at disposal are completely safe in terms of health protection and environmental concerns. Had we been acting like brutes, we would have slaughtered and buried the cadavers at the place where they were infected," added Takac. mf