Bulgaria's food safety agency (BABH) has found sheep pox on a farm in the village of Petrovo, Stara Zagora municipality, the agency said. A 5 km protection zone and a 20 km surveillance zone, with limits on sheep and goats, have been set up around the outbreak.
The farm has 72 small ruminants. The owner alerted the authorities when he saw the first signs of the disease and has fully helped the vets. BABH has taken steps to contain and wipe out the outbreak, in line with EU and Bulgarian law.
Sheep and goats may not be moved in either zone. The only exception is animals going straight to slaughter under set conditions. Farmers must keep their animals indoors.
Vets will count the animals on all farms in the zones, update the data in the VetIS system and check the animals officially. Special rules on transport and processing apply to raw milk from the affected areas.
The protection zone covers the villages of Badeshte, Kaloyanovets, Lovets, Pamukchii and Petrovo in Stara Zagora municipality, and Yastrebovo in Opan municipality.
The surveillance zone includes the city of Stara Zagora. It also takes in the villages of Arnautino, Bogomilovo, Vodenicharovo, Gorno Botevo, Elenino, Elhovo, Zagore, Kalitinovo, Kirilovo, Kozarevets, Lyaskovo, Madzherito, Malka Vereya, Malko Kadievo, Mihaylovo, Mogila, Preslaven, Pryaporets, Rakitnitsa, Samuilovo, Strelets, Sulitsa, Hristiyanovo, Hrishteni and Yavorovo.
In Opan municipality, the surveillance zone covers Byal Izvor, Byalo Pole, Venets, Knyazhevsko, Kravino, Opan, Pastren, Sredets, Stoletovo and Trakia. In Radnevo municipality, the limits apply to Bozduganovo, Dinya, Zemen, Kovach, Kolarovo, Svoboden, Sarnevo, Tihomirovo, Topolyane and Transkovo.
The zone also includes the Chirpan villages of Vinarovo, Gita, Dimitrievo, Malko Tarnovo, Mogilovo, Oslarka, Svoboda and Yazdach, as well as Velikovo and Razdelna in Galabovo municipality. Outside Stara Zagora region, the limits reach Zdravets and Stransko in Dimitrovgrad municipality, Haskovo region.
BABH says the disease is not dangerous to people, but it causes serious economic losses when it spreads. The agency called on livestock farmers to be more watchful and to follow biosecurity rules strictly.
BABH says regular checks on animals help catch the disease early, and a quick report is the most important step to stop it spreading. Farmers who suspect pox must call a vet at once. Reports are taken around the clock on the agency's hotline, 0 700 122 99.
Last week BABH found a secondary outbreak of the same disease on a farm in the village of Tatarevo, Mineralni Bani municipality, Haskovo region.