Aloisio Milani
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply confirmed three new foci of hoof and mouth disease in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The existence of an earlier focus in the municipality of Eldorado led 32 countries to impose partial or total embargoes on imported Brazilian meat.

One of the new foci was discovered on the Jangada ranch, which adjoins the Vezozzo ranch, where the first case of the disease was identified last week. The other two foci were detected on the Guairá and Santo Antônio ranches, located in the municipality of Japorã, on the Paraguayan border.

In a note, the Ministry says that the National Agricultural Laboratory, in Belém, Pará, confirmed the presence of the disease in a report delivered yesterday (17) to the Secretariat of Agricultural Protection.

Following this confirmation, the same sanitary procedures should be adopted as the ones used on the Vezozzo ranch, namely, sacrifice of the herds and burial of the animals in common pits. Access to the properties will be restricted, and epidemiological examinations will be conducted to pinpoint the source of contamination.

According to the note, the Ministry of Agriculture is also awaiting test results for material collected on three other properties in Japorã suspected of harboring the disease.

Translation: David Silberstein