After decades of silence from Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) in Germany, news in the last few days reveals a confirmed case near Berlin. Where did the virus come from after all that time of no reported cases?

The first individual occurrence of infectious disease, the index case, is notoriously difficult to explain in terms of where the causative organism came from. In the case of FMD, the Aphthovirus virus responsible for the infection has a wide range of natural hosts – animals that can act as reservoirs for transmission, including domesticated cattle and wild animals such as deer. That an index case suddenly emerges in an otherwise disease-free animal population will always challenge the scientists assigned to investigate the outbreak.

Once a case of FMD has been confirmed a host of biosecurity measures will be rapidly implemented in order to contain disease spread. However, the inability to predict the timing and location of subsequent cases underlines the importance of preventive biosecurity measures. Here’s where disinfectants add real value. Some containment measures important in post outbreak settings would be inappropriate as preventive measures. Disinfectants add value either side of an index case scenario.

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