Germany Promises Help In Bluetongue 0utbreak
GERMANY - Germany last night promised to do all it could to help British farmers hit by the bluetongue outbreak.
24 September 2007
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| Germany last year confirmed its first case of bluetongue, sparking an animal health crisis on the continent. |
Germany has been facing its own major outbreak of the disease for more than a year.
“If the UK needs help we will do all we can to help,” said Tanja Thiele, spokeswoman for the German ministry of agriculture.
But she added that German experience has proved treating the disease is extremely difficult.
“Advice is really difficult to give because there is no vaccine and there is nothing you can do,” she said.
“You can only stop the animal moving. German industry is working very hard to produce a vaccine. We hope to have it next year.”
When Germany confirmed its first case of bluetongue last year it proved to be the beginning of an animal health crisis on the continent.
Despite the immediate lock-down of infected animals after the initial outbreak last August, a further seven thousand cases have since been declared.
