site.btaBulgarian Food Safety Agency Confirms Goat Plague in Velingrad Facility

The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) told a Tuesday briefing in Sofia that Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) (or the so-called goat plague) was undoubtedly present among three herds of 1,760 animals that are kept together in a Velingrad facility. BFSA Animal Health Department head Daniel Denev presented the chronology of the case, the outbreak was announced on Monday. 

Following suspicions of disease in the respective establishment, 40 samples were taken on November 20 and sent to Sofia. The following day the establishment was visited again and another 50 samples were taken and sent to the national reference laboratory in Sofia. On Friday, November 22, 20 serological samples were taken for the presence of antibodies. All samples tested positive on Monday. The positive serological samples mean that the infection has been present for 14 to 20 days, Denev said.

According to Denev, restrictions on the export of animals and products from Pazardzhik region are now likely, but if measures are not taken, there is a danger that the European Commission (EC) will ban the export of animals and their products from Bulgaria as a whole.

Denev said that the disease is transmitted through contact and according to him there is illegal import of animals in the facility in question. He said that speculators in Greece and Romania were selling animals at no price, as both countries were badly affected by the disease.

Ilian Kostov, Bulgaria's chief veterinarian, appealed to breeders not to lie to themselves and buy animals at dumping prices because there is a high risk of their animals getting sick with smallpox or goat plague.

Kostov stressed that breeders are responsible for their animals, so they must take responsibility. Denev said that despite the complicated epizootic situation of the last two years with sheep and goat pox and bird flu, no other owner has refused to allow them on their premises, but the owners of the site in Velingrad, who refused. If they do not let us in, The economic damage to the country will be millions and all trade in animals and their products from Bulgaria will be blocked if the BFSA is not allowed inside the Velingrad facility.

Denev pointed out that the moment the owners allow the BFSA into the facility, they will kill the contact animals and the owners can file a claim for compensation.

Emilia Ivanova, head of the laboratory for exotic and dangerous infections, a specialized structure of the BFSA that tests the samples, explained that they were targeted for two diseases - first sheep and goat pox was rejected, then the samples were tested for goat plague. The samples came out positive. The laboratory has been inspected twice this year by the European Reference Laboratory and is working properly.

The samples were prepared on Monday and will be sent to a laboratory in Montpellier in an attempt to find out where the disease is coming from - Romania or Greece.

This is the first case of goat plague in Bulgaria since 2018.

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In a position posted on Facebook on Tuesday, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning parliamentary group expressed doubt in the credibility of the test results and appeal for new sampling and testing.