For up-to-date and official information on the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) situation in Hungary and Slovakia, including outbreak notifications, please consult the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) portal managed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
This platform provides detailed, real-time data submitted by national Veterinary Authorities, including the number of affected animals, geographical spread, implemented control measures, and status updates on disease progression. Users can search by country, disease, and reporting period to access outbreak maps, official reports, and relevant documentation essential for stakeholders, researchers, and policymakers.
The affected countries have implemented a series of complementary measures, which include the sequestration of infected premises and the stamping out of susceptible species under strict biosecurity measures. Suppressive vaccination has been used to reduce the level of infectivity of risk farms, while awaiting the implementation of other measures. Ultimately, all vaccinated farms are due to stamping out before restoring free status. This illustrates the relevance to have vaccine and antigen banks that are regularly updated to have a good match between vaccine coverage and circulating strain, especially in the context of normally FMD-free territory.
In addition, restricted zones have been put in place to limit the movement of animals, products and people that could transmit the diseases with radiuses of 3km and 10km. Movement of animals from susceptible species are forbidden to limit the risk of spread and only authorised by derogation in some specific cases subject to favourable risk assessment and testing. In all the zones, active surveillance is being conducted, and movement of animal products and materials are subject to dedicated regime to ensure virus inactivation, such as disinfection and heat treatment. These restrictions include also recreational activities that could put people in contact with susceptible species like hunting or visiting zoos. Additional restricted zones were established to prevent the risk of spread.
Intensive surveillance and public awareness are also conducted to ensure early detection, reduce the risk of transmission by contaminated animals, products and materials throughout the infected countries.
Detailed measures are published in the official journal of the European Commission and presentation of measures implemented are available at COPAFF Animal Health and Welfare. DG SANTE and affected countries presented the measures implemented during a GF-TADs webinar available on Regional Representation for Europe.
The outbreak in Hungary is different from the outbreak in Germany in early 2025 because Hungary is currently dealing with a concomitant animal health exceptional event from another transboundary disease (TADs): a peste des petits ruminants (PPR) outbreak which was reported in January 2025. Similar to PPR, FMD severely affects the production of livestock, and disrupts regional and international trade in animals and animal products. The impact of both outbreaks at one time could have devastating effects on farmers’ livelihoods and on food security.
The outbreaks in Germany, however, are of a different strain of the FMD virus than the outbreaks in Hungary and Slovakia.
Many countries have banned the import of cattle, pigs and sheep following the outbreak reported to the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) in January. As of 13 March 2025, at least 16 countries have moved to ban the import of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and other non-domestic ruminants and their untreated products from Hungary. In all similar circumstances, WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code foresees that countries maintain and update their risk analysis based on fact and scientific knowledge available and following the Chapter 8.8 of the Terrestrial Code on FMD, recently revised (adopted May 2024)
An application for the recovery of an FMD-free country status or for the establishment of a containment zone can be submitted at any time in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) on suspension, recovery of animal health status.
The WOAH provisions for the Recovery of FMD-free status are described in Article 8.8.11. of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code and the earliest that countries can regain the free status would be three months after the disposal of the last animal killed or the slaughter of all vaccinated animals, whichever occurred last, where a stamping-out policy, emergency vaccination and surveillance in accordance with Articles 8.8.43. to 8.8.45. are applied.
The provisions for the establishment of a containment zone are described in Article 8.8.10. of the Terrestrial Code.
According to the aforementioned references to the SOP and the Terrestrial Code, an application should be submitted to WOAH following the model of the questionnaire under Article 1.11.1 Section 8. Recovery of free status of the Terrestrial Code.
A country will not automatically lose its FMD-free status if it is close to an outbreak. The status is only lost if an outbreak occurs within the territory of the country or due to other non-compliance with the provisions of the Terrestrial Code for the maintenance of the officially recognised status. Given the risk of spread of FMD, surveillance and contingency planning need to be heightened as the disease comes closer, as Austria has done since a few weeks for instance.
While FMD poses a significant economic threat to the livestock industry, its zoonotic potential is not significant. According to scientific data, only a few human cases with very mild clinical signs (blisters on the fingers, palms, soles of the feet or mouth sores) have been reported. Thus, FMD is not considered a public health threat and should not be managed as a zoonosis.
The virus is a serotype O, with the closest strain reported in Pakistan, but many infected countries still face issues in sequencing or sharing viral material for sequencing. Because of this knowledge gap, we cannot conclude on the geographical origin. Epidemiological investigations are still ongoing on the transmission pattern. All plausible hypotheses to determine the origin of the outbreaks are considered and assessed, based on the available data and evolving evidence.
