Two farms in western Germany were under quarantine today on suspicion Britain's foot-and-mouth disease outbreak might have spread there.
A local official said the country must gird itself for a "disaster scenario."
Foot-and-mouth panic spread to Germany when officials in North Rhine-Westphalia state said three imported British sheep tested positive for antibodies to the livestock disease.
This indicates they had been in contact with sheep that had the disease.
The tested sheep were among 350 imports killed in recent days as a precautionary measure because they came from a British farm with the disease.
The two German farms near the Dutch border were sealed off last night.
North Rhine-Westphalia environment minister Ms Baerbel Hoehn said she was worried there could already be undiscovered foot-and-mouth cases in Germany.
"Whatever we do, we must be careful," she said. "That would really be the disaster scenario, especially if we don't discover it quickly enough."
But she stressed tests so far had turned up no sheep actually infected with the virus. In addition to the 350 imported animals authorities have ordered the destruction of some 1,200 other sheep that were on the two farms.
AP