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Minsk halts EU livestock imports over Schmallenberg virus

23 March 2012, 22:17 CET
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(MINSK) - Belarus said Friday it had suspended livestock imports from the EU over the spread in European farms of the Schmallenberg virus, a new disease that causes deformities in animals at birth.

The announcement came as the European Union agreed to freeze the assets of 29 Belarusian companies and bar 12 individuals from travelling, in the bloc's latest effort to persuade the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko to free political prisoners.

Belarus "is temporarily suspending imports of horned livestock and live pigs as of March 23 after new cases of the disease caused by the Schmallenberg virus were detected on EU soil," the agriculture ministry said.

It said the measure was aimed at "protecting Belarusian territory" and added that it did not affect livestock quarantined in the country of origin under the supervision of Belarusian veterinary services.

Russia this week became the first country to suspend EU livestock imports over the virus, which has so far been confirmed on more than 800 German farms.

Believed to be carried by gnats and named after the German town where it was first detected, Schmallenberg causes fever and diarrhoea in adult livestock and cannot be transmitted from one animal to another, experts say.

It can, however, be transmitted to sheep, goat and cow embryos, leading to stillbirths or deformities that cause death soon after birth.


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