Budapest: Hungary on Thursday suggested a “biological attack” as a possible source of outbreak of the country’s first leg and mouth disease in more than half a century, causing the closure of boundary in the north-west and large-scale cattle.
Hungary, along with Austria and Slovakia last month, reported the first case of legs and mouth disease in more than 50 years in a cattle farm near the border, the world organization said that Animal Health cited Hungary officials.
Thousands of cattle had to be shut down as the landlock tries to prevent the outbreak of the country, while Austria and Slovakia have closed dozens of border, even after the disease, the disease appeared in the southern part of Slovakia.
“At this stage, we can say that it cannot be ruled out that the virus was not of natural origin, we can work with an artificially engineer virus,” Prime Minister Victor Orbin’s Chief of Staff, Gerley Gulas told a media briefing.
Answering a question, Gulas said that he could not deny that the outbreak of the virus was the result of a biological attack, without giving information about who could be responsible.
He also said that doubt was based on oral information obtained from a foreign laboratory and his findings are not yet fully proven and documented.
Hungary’s cattle stock had 861,000 heads on the basis of livestock census in December, slightly changed from a year ago. Official data showed that 1.2% of the total cattle shares of the European Union were formed.
Foot-and-mouth disease is no threat to humans, but cloth-huked jugglers such as cattle, boar, sheep and goats cause fever and mouth blisters, and outbreak often causes trade restrictions.
Gulas told reporters that no fresh outbreak was detected, and the authorities were constantly taking samples.
