Burgersfort - The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has assured Limpopo farmers and cattle owners that there is no outbreak of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease in the Greater Tubatse area.
This comes after it issued a statement last Friday saying that suspect laboratory results had been received from a few cattle that were sampled in the normally disease-free zone.
The department's Chief Director of Communication and Information, Noncedo Vutula, confirmed on Thursday that the results had proven negative.
"All the follow-up surveillance and laboratory testing proved negative. There were no clinical signs of disease or serological evidence of a spread of the disease and no foot-and-mouth virus was detected," she said.
Vutula added that state veterinary authorities had confirmed the laboratory results.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a severe, highly contagious viral disease caught mainly by cattle and pigs, although it can also affect sheep, goats and other cloven-hooved animals such as deer and camels.
The virus can be spread by animals, people or materials that bring it into physical contact with susceptible animals.
In August, the department reported an outbreak in the Gravelotte area on a private farm in Malati.
