Livestock are being slaughtered by the thousands in Hungary after the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in more than 50 years.
Slovakia has shuttered its borders amid an outbreak of a virus in neighbouring Hungary(Image: Getty Images)
A virus which is sweeping through Europe has forced borders to close amid fears it could have been launched as a “biological attack”. Livestock are being slaughtered by the thousands in Hungary after the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in more than 50 years.
Neighbouring Austria and Slovakia have closed dozens of their border crossings to the landlocked country in response, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health. A Hungarian spokesperson said the disease was first detected on a cattle farm near the northwest border.
As reported by the Mirror, he added that it may have been “artificially engineered” and they could not rule out that the virus was the result of a biological attack. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said: “At this stage, we can say that it cannot be ruled out that the virus was not of natural origin, we may be dealing with an artificially engineered virus.”
Hand, foot and mouth disease causes mouth ulcers plus spots and blisters on the hands and feet(Image: Getty Images)
He did not give information, however, on who might be responsible. Animal authorities have inspected nearly 1,000 farms and detected positive foot-and-mouth disease results on four sites across Hungary.
That suspicion was based on verbal information received from a foreign laboratory, Gulyas claimed, and the findings have not yet been fully proven.
Last December, Hungary had a total cattle stock of 861,000 which equated to 1.2% of the European Union ‘s total. Thousands have now been culled as the landlocked country tries to contain the outbreak, reports The Express.
Firefighters inspecting trucks loads at the border crossing in Czechia(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Foot-and-mouth disease poses no danger to humans but can quickly spread among animals, causing fever and mouth blisters for cattle, sheep and goats.
As reported by the Independent, Paul Meixner, an Austrian-Hungarian dual citizen who owns one of the affected farms in Hungary, said his business has taken a 1.5 billion forint ($4.09 million) loss after culling 3,000 cattle and other livestock.
He said: “Everyone was just standing there, crying and saying that this cannot be true, that this was impossible.”
A disinfection checkpoint has been set up at a border crossing between Hungary and Slovakia (Image: Getty Images)
But he has vowed to rebuild, adding: “In two weeks, we will start harvesting and storing the hay. We need the fodder for next year.”
Shocking pictures showed how disinfection stations were set up at some of the closed border crossings. Officials in hazmat suits and major protective gear were seen testing the contents of trucks rolling into these countries.
Cars were also made to pass through pop-up decontamination station where they were sprayed down in an attempt to contain the virus.