Swine fever breaks out in Germany

A half-mile exclusion zone was placed around the affected farm near the town of Fallingbostel, the Lower Saxony state agriculture…

Swine fever has broken out on a farm in northern Germany, and at least 1,200 pigs will be slaughtered as a precaution, authorities said today.

A half-mile exclusion zone was placed around the affected farm near the town of Fallingbostel, the Lower Saxony state agriculture ministry said.

Tests taken yesterday on animals from the farm confirmed the diagnosis of classical swine fever, the ministry said. Officials were examining whether wild pigs might have transmitted the disease.

Swine fever, which experts say poses no health risk to humans, was also reported this month in Spain. Lower Saxony last recorded an outbreak in June 1999.

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AP