Dutch foot-and-mouth cases rise to five
The Dutch Agriculture Ministry has confirmed a new case of foot-and-mouth disease to take the total number of infected farms in the Netherlands to five.
The latest case was reported at a cattle farm in the northeastern town of Oene in the province of Gelderland. Oene now has two of five national outbreaks.
Animals at four other farms, some in the south, were showing symptoms of the highly contagious livestock illness, leading to fears that it will spread beyond Gelderland.
The European Union on Friday gave the Netherlands permission to conduct vaccinations at farms where foot-and-mouth is suspected and health officials planned to begin the procedure Monday.
Meanwhile, Israel joined the growing list of countries to ban imports of Dutch meat. Exports here will most likely be frozen for three months due to the problem of differentiating between healthy and infected livestock. Vaccinated animals carry the same antibodies as the sick.
