Czech Republic maintains border checks as Slovakia tackles foot-and-mouth disease
ADVERTISEMENT
Truck checks at the Czech-Slovak border have continued for a third week as fears of foot-and-mouth disease spreading throughout the country continue.
Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný said the restrictions could be lifted 30 days after culling the last farm animal infected with foot-and-mouth disease in Slovakia.
"The most significant risk is due to transmission through contaminated human objects," said Jiri Cerny, an associate professor at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.
"That means on tires and cars, on the soles of shoes, through contaminated food."
Slovakia declared a state of emergency at the end of March to rid the country of foot-and-mouth disease after three cases were discovered in separate farms.
On Monday, the Slovakian government said it had also reintroduced temporary border checks with Hungary and Austria in response to the escalating outbreak.
A truck drives through a shower of disinfectant to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease from Slovakia into the Czech Republic, 11 April, 2025
AP Photo
The measure, which came into effect on Tuesday, will remain in place until 8 May, according to Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok.
"Although the presence of foot-and-mouth disease has not been confirmed in Austria, the measure is necessary due to the proximity of outbreak areas," he said.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral disease of livestock, mainly affects cattle but can also infect swine, sheep and goats.
The virus is preserved in saliva, urine, faeces and milk.
It is transmitted by contact with sick animals, through the air, and on the surfaces of people, tools or vehicles.
But the risk of transmission to humans is very low to negligible.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Israel denies firing on civilians near Gaza aid distribution site
Israel has denied claims that its forces opened fire on people near an aid distribution site on Tuesday, killing at least 27, in a third such incident in three days. The Israeli army said it fired "near a few individual suspects" who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots. Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said its field hospital in Rafah received 184 wounded people, 19 of whom were declared dead on arrival and eight more who later died of their wounds. The bodies of the 27 dead have been transferred to Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, according to AP. The Israeli military said it was looking into reports of casualties on Tuesday. It previously said it fired warning shots at suspects who approached its forces early Sunday and Monday, when health officials and witnesses said 34 people were killed. The military denies opening fire on civilians or blocking them from reaching the aid sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates the sites, says there has been no violence in or around them. On Tuesday, it acknowledged that the Israeli military was investigating whether civilians were wounded "after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone," in an area that was "well beyond our secure distribution site." The shootings all occurred at the Flag Roundabout, around a kilometre from one of the GHF's distribution sites in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah. The latest incident has come after an Israeli and US-backed foundation established aid distribution points inside Israeli military zones, a system Israel says is designed to circumvent Hamas and prevent its militants from war profiteering and strengthening the group that way. The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn't address Gaza's mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. Meanwhile the Israeli military said Tuesday that three of its soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip, in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on Israel's forces since it ended a ceasefire with Hamas in March. The military said the three soldiers, all in their early 20s, fell during combat in northern Gaza on Monday, without providing details. Israeli media reported that they were killed in an explosion in the Jabaliya area. Israel ended the ceasefire in March after Hamas refused to change the agreement to release more hostages sooner. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people hostage in the 7 October 2023 attack into southern Israel that ignited the Israel-Hamas war. They are still holding 58 hostages, a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Some 54,000 Palestinians have been killed during the 20-month war, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israel has challenged its numbers. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. Around 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the 7 October attack, including more than 400 during the fighting inside Gaza. Residents in western Turkey and the Greek islands were shaken awake on Monday evening when a strong 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted the Turkish coastal town of Marmaris. A 14-year-old girl died in the town of Fethiye after the quake, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, despite being taken to the hospital. She had suffered a panic attack. The quake, which had a depth of 68 km according to the European Seismological Centre, was felt across the Dodecanese islands. At least 69 people were injured after attempting to jump from heights due to panic caused by the tremors, which were strongly felt on the Greek island of Rhodes — the largest of the Dodecanese islands near the Turkish border. No injuries were reported in Rhodes; however, tourists visiting the island said they woke up to violent shaking. Travel agency TUI cautioned tourists in the region to 'remain calm and follow any safety instructions provided by your accommodation or local officials.' Greek seismologist Efthimios Lekkas told ERT News that the earthquake's depth caused it to be felt across a wider area. "It will not have a significant impact on the surface, there will be no tsunami, and above all, there will not be a rich aftershock sequence," he noted. Due to its significant depth, the quake "was very intense for the residents of Rhodes and its surrounding areas. From here on, there will not be any major damage."
Euronews
13-05-2025
- Euronews
What we know about the surge of hepatitis A in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is seeing a surge of hepatitis A infections that does not appear to be slowing down. The country recorded 450 cases and six deaths from hepatitis A in the first four months of 2025, compared with 636 cases and two deaths all of last year. But Czech health officials said the actual number of infections is likely much higher because of how difficult it is to track the spread of the virus, which causes liver inflammation that can be fatal in rare cases. 'We know from experience that even one confirmed case can subsequently mean a big problem,' the State Health Institute (SZÚ) said in a statement. It's not a common infection. In 2022, there were 4,548 cases reported across 30 European countries. Here's what we know so far about the developing hepatitis A situation in the Czech Republic. People can be infected after contact with a sick person's stool, for example, via unwashed hands, contaminated food or water, or dirty door handles. Places with poor sanitation and hygiene are the ideal breeding ground for the virus. Most infected people do not have symptoms, but about 10 per cent experience serious health problems that can lead to liver failure and death, Czech officials said. Adults aged 50 and older and people who already have chronic liver disease are at higher risk. Other symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, nausea, and jaundice, which is when the eyes and skin take on a yellow hue. It usually takes two to four weeks for infected people to develop symptoms, and they can shed the virus for a week or two beforehand, meaning people can spread hepatitis A without even knowing they are infected. The capital city, Prague, and the surrounding Central Bohemian region, as well as the Moravia-Silesian region bordering Poland and Slovakia, have reported the most hepatitis A cases this year. The virus is spreading among children, teenagers, young adults, and people engaged in 'risky behaviour,' officials said. In Prague, for example, nearly one in three patients are homeless, and many use drugs. But the number of people who are susceptible to hepatitis A because they have not been vaccinated or in contact with the virus is 'gradually increasing,' they added. Health officials encouraged people to get vaccinated against hepatitis A. Two doses taken six to 18 months apart can help protect people against infection. The jab, which costs approximately 1,700 CZK (around €68), is not required, but it is included in some health insurance programmes, officials said. Because many infected people are homeless, Czech health workers have distributed the vaccine to shelters for free. People who work closely with drug users and those living on the streets are also being vaccinated in Prague. But 'it is very difficult for these people to comply with anti-epidemic measures, and contact tracing is especially problematic,' making it harder to control the spread of the virus, officials said. Last year, officials tracked down 6,375 contacts of people infected with hepatitis A. People identified as close contacts who have not been vaccinated are prohibited from going to public swimming pools, saunas, summer camps, or other big events. Blockbuster weight loss drugs may help people avoid obesity-related cancers, new research suggests. Obesity contributes to 13 types of cancer, and health experts are worried about the growing toll as obesity rates continue to rise globally. The new study, published in the Lancet journal eClinicalMedicine, suggests that weight loss drugs such as Saxena or Trulicity could help curb these risks. Researchers compared nearly 6,400 people with obesity and diabetes who either underwent bariatric surgery or took GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are weight loss drugs that work by mimicking a hormone in the body that makes people feel full for longer. In the years after their treatments, there were 5.76 obesity-related cancer cases per 1,000 person-years among patients who had bariatric surgery, compared with a rate of 5.64 among those who took GLP-1s. Because surgery is more effective at lowering people's weight, the researchers concluded that weight-loss drugs could be even better at preventing obesity-related cancers – to the tune of 41 per cent, they said. 'Our study found a similar incidence of obesity-related cancer among patients treated with first-generation [GLP-1 drugs] and with bariatric surgery… despite the relative advantage of surgery in maximising weight loss,' Yael Wolff Sagy, a study author and a researcher at Clalit Health Services in Israel, said in a statement. 'But accounting for this advantage revealed the direct effect of GLP-1RAs beyond weight-loss to be 41 per cent more effective at preventing obesity-related cancer'. Notably, though, when the researchers took people's ability to manage their blood sugar levels into account, the medicines' edge over surgery dropped to 13 per cent. The benefit from the drugs could be because they help reduce inflammation, the researchers said, adding that newer medicines such as Ozempic, Mounjaro, or Zepbound could have an even greater effect. 'We do not yet fully understand how GLP-1s work, but this study adds to the growing evidence showing that weight loss alone cannot completely account for the metabolic, anti-cancer, and many other benefits that these medications provide,' Sagy said. The study is the latest to suggest drugs designed to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes could be used for much more than weight loss. Other research indicates they could help people with addiction, dementia, liver problems, and more. But the analysis has some limitations. Only 298 people were diagnosed with obesity-related cancers during the study period, for example, and it's not clear whether people sustained their initial weight loss over time. Larger studies with more patients could affect the statistical analysis that identified the 41 per cent risk reduction from medicines compared with surgery. Independent experts also noted that the study was observational, meaning the authors reviewed existing data, rather than conducting a randomised control trial where some patients receive a drug and others get a placebo or dummy treatment in order to compare their outcomes. Randomised trials are considered the gold standard for medical research. 'Larger outcome trials are needed to understand links between such medicines and cancer risks, and several should report over the next five years,' Naveed Sattar, a professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow in the UK, said in a statement. 'It is better to wait to see further large outcome trials versus placebo to get closer to the truth'.
Euronews
21-04-2025
- Euronews
Pope Francis died from stroke followed by heart failure, Vatican says
ADVERTISEMENT Pope Francis passed away due to a stroke and irreversible cardiovascular arrest, according to the death certificate released by Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli. The document, which was released by The Vatican, also noted that the pope had fallen into a coma before his death. In addition to his recent lung infection, Arcangeli stated that Francis had been battling high blood pressure and diabetes. The 88-year-old pontiff recently spent five weeks in a Rome hospital, battling against a life-threatening bout of double pneumonia, but returned to the Vatican and lighter duties towards the end of March. It was not his first encounter with pulmonary issues as Francis suffered from chronic lung disease his entire life, even having part of his lung removed as a young man. Francis made his last public appearance on Easter Sunday, to bless thousands of people in St Peter's Square. The Vatican says the public will likely be able to begin paying their final respects to Pope Francis starting on Wednesday in St. Peter's Basilica, however the exact date will be confirmed after cardinals gather for the first time following his death on Tuesday morning. Francis' coffin will be moved from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel, where he had lived, to St. Peter's Basilica for public viewing. In a departure from tradition, and as requested by the late pope, his body will not be placed on an elevated bier but instead will rest in a wooden coffin facing the pews. A woman looks at a photo of Pope Francis inside St Patrick's Cathedral ahead of a mass in Melbourne, Australia. James Ross/AAP Image via AP Before passing, Francis also expressed his wish to be buried in the ground at St. Mary Major Basilica, which houses his beloved icon of the Virgin Mary, to whom he had deep devotion. While no specific date has been set for the funeral, it must take place between four and six days after his death. Meanwhile, a 'sede vacante', or 'vacant see', has now begun in The Vatican, which is the period between the death of one pope and the election of another. To mark the beginning of this period, Pope Francis' formal apartment has been sealed with red ribbon and wax in a ritual that is a key part of the tradition after a pope dies. Officials draped a red ribbon through the door handles of the apartment in the Apostolic Palace, then poured liquid wax on the bow and impressed Francis' papal seal to keep it closed. To elect a new pope, cardinals from across the globe will convene for the conclave. The voting process is conducted in secret and typically lasts between two and three weeks. However, it may take longer if the cardinals have difficulty reaching a consensus on a candidate. ADVERTISEMENT The conclave is expected to begin no sooner than 15 days and no later than 20 days after the pope's death.
