Bolivian FMD outbreak threatens Brazil

- Published: 05 February, 2007

The Brazilian agriculture ministry said it will begin tightening up its border with Bolivia, where foot-and-mouth broke out last week, to try to keep the disease away from its world-leading beef export sector.

The Brazilian agriculture ministry said it will begin tightening up its border with Bolivia, where foot-and-mouth broke out recently, to try to keep the disease away from its world-leading beef export sector.

On Monday last week, Brazil said it suspended beef and dairy products imports after the disease appeared in Bolivia's eastern province of Santa Cruz on January 26.

Argentina's food and animal health service Senasa said it had bolstered border checks with Bolivia.

In a report from Reuters, it stated that Antonio Ernesto de Salvo, president of Brazil's National Confederation of Agriculture, said: "The outbreak in Bolivia poses a serious threat to Brazil's beef industry."

More than 50 countries that import beef from Brazil, the world's largest exporter, banned shipments after the highly contagious disease broke out in October 2005 in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso do Sul, which borders Bolivia, and Parana.

Some of these countries are just now reopening to shipments of Brazilian beef.

The Brazilian ministry said Mato Grosso, a major cattle state, began a statewide vaccination against the disease last week as a preventive measure.