MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New cases of foot-and-mouth in Brazil

Six new cases of foot-and-mouth disease were confirmed in the southern state of Parana, Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said yesterday.

The first case in Parana was confirmed on December 6.

The new cases concerned an estimated 4,500 animals in herds on six farms in the districts of Bela Vista do Paraiso, Grandes Rios, Maringa and Loanda.

The ministry ordered the animals to be slaughtered.

"These cases occured on farms which had already been banned by the state veterinary service," the Secretary of Animal Protection Gabriel Alves Maciel said in a statement.

More than 55 countries have curbed meat imports from Brazil since the first outbreak of the highly infectious disease in Brazil's main cattle state of Mato Grosso do Sul, which borders Parana, on October 10.