A German region lifts an animal transport ban imposed after foot-and-mouth disease was detected

BERLIN — An eastern German region said Friday it is lifting a ban on the transport of animals that was imposed last weekend after foot-and-mouth disease was detected in a buffalo herd. No further cases have been confirmed in recent days.

Authorities said a week ago that a farmer in Hoenow, just outside Berlin's city limits, had found three of a 14-strong herd of water buffalo dead. Tests confirmed foot-and-mouth disease in samples from one animal and the rest of the herd was slaughtered.

The source of the infection remains unclear. The last outbreak in Germany was in 1988 and the last in Europe in 2011, according to Germany’s animal health institute.

A ban on transporting cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and other animals such as camels and llamas in Brandenburg state, a large rural region that surrounds Berlin, went into effect on Saturday. The German capital's two zoos also closed as a precaution. An annual agriculture fair, the Green Week, opened in Berlin on Friday without cloven-hoofed animals.

Brandenburg's state agriculture ministry said that the transport ban won't be extended when it expires at midnight on Friday, because “at this point there are still no indications of a spread of foot-and-mouth disease.” It said that a protection and surveillance zone in the area around the site where the disease was detected will remain in place.

Foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a virus that infects cloven-hoofed animals. While death rates are typically low, the disease can make animals ill with fever, decreased appetite, excessive drooling, blisters and other symptoms.

The virus spreads easily through contact and airborne transmission and can quickly infect entire herds. People can spread the disease though things like farming equipment, shoes, clothing and vehicle tires that have come into contact with the virus.