Minister Heydon urges continued vigilance following reports of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in Slovakia
- Published on: 21 March 2025
- Last updated on: 26 March 2025
Slovakia confirmed three outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in cattle today. All three outbreaks are within 20km of the recent outbreak in Hungary on 6 March. Slovakia is the third Member State to confirm an outbreak of FMD in 2025, following the initial confirmation by Germany on 10 January that it had detected its first case of the disease since 1988.
FMD is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle, sheep, pigs and other cloven-hoofed animals. It causes very significant economic losses, due to production losses in the affected animals and due to the loss of access to foreign markets for animals, meat and milk for affected countries. FMD does not infect humans and does not pose a food safety risk. Ireland is free of FMD, having had its last case in 2001.
The department is taking action to protect Irish livestock following this outbreak. The department has confirmed that no animals susceptible to FMD (that is, cattle, sheep, pigs) have been imported into Ireland from Slovakia, Hungary or Germany since 1 January 2025, which is long before the recent cases would have been first infected.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, said:
“The news of three outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Slovakia today is very concerning. I know this is a terrible blow to Slovak farmers and their agri-food industry. Given the highly contagious nature of the FMD virus I urge everyone in Ireland, particularly farmers, to continue to stay vigilant and to protect our Irish livestock.”
Minister Heydon further commented:
“Those travelling to Ireland from FMD affected countries should take every precaution not to bring the disease with them via contaminated meat, dairy and materials such as clothing, shoes and equipment. It is especially important that if you have visited farms, wildlife areas or zoos in FMD-affected countries, that you avoid all contact with livestock or wildlife for at least 14 days following arrival in Ireland.”
Ireland’s controls to prevent FMD include strict prohibitions on the imports of animals and animal products from countries in which FMD is present; a comprehensive veterinary surveillance system to detect unusual disease outbreaks; and active follow up and veterinary investigation of any suspects reports.
If an FMD outbreak were to be confirmed in Ireland, the infected herd would be culled, the site disinfected, and a 3k protection zone and 10k surveillance zone set up, within which very strict movement controls and testing would be imposed. A national movement ban would very likely be imposed in the first days after any initial FMD case. If a case of FMD were to occur in Ireland, it would lead to the immediate loss of market access for Irish animals and animal products.
Notes
Further information is available on the department’s website at: gov.ie - Foot and Mouth Disease.
Any suspect cases of FMD in Ireland should be reported immediately to the local Regional Veterinary Office or by phone to the National Disease Emergency Hotline on 01 492 8026 (outside of office hours).