site.btaFood Safety Agency Reports Maedi-Visna, Q Fever Outbreaks on Sheep Farm in Sigmen

Following checks on a sheep farm in the village of Sigmen (Southeastern Bulgaria), the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) has confirmed outbreaks of Maedi-Visna disease and Q fever. There are no cases of sheep and goat plague, the Agency said.

Meeting on December 31, the farm owner and members of an expert council set up on the initiative of the BFSA executive director decided that further herd testing and exams would be conducted. Throughout the process, the Agency received understanding and full cooperation from the farmer.

The animals on the farm in Sigmen tested positive for Maedi-Vesna. They tested negative for foot-and-mouth disease, sheep and goat pox, and sheep and goat plague. Additional tests were conducted for scrapie, enterotoxemia, pasteurellosis and listeriosis, all with negative results.

The expert council held a meeting on January 6 and agreed to carry out an on-site survey within 10 days. Representatives of BFSA, the Agriculture and Food Ministry, the National Diagnostic and Research Veterinary Medical Institute, the Risk Assessment Center on Food Chain, and Trakia University visited the farm on January 10 and took samples, which tested positive for Q-fever.

The owner of the farm is entitled to compensation under the Veterinary Practices Act for the elimination of the Q fever outbreak.

On December 19, the owner of the sheep farm in Sigmen said that an incurable disease was spreading among his animals, and the authorities were not taking any steps to contain the outbreak. The owner, Veselin Yanev, said that over one hundred sheep, including lambs, had died.

BFSA promised that if Maedi-Vesna was confirmed in the herd, a recovery plan would be proposed to the owner.