Protection against animal diseases, information

If you keep animals or deal with animals, you are obliged to inform the responsible department for consumer protection, trade and the environment immediately if you suspect an animal disease. Outside the usual reachability, the police must be informed.

Animal epidemics are all diseases or infections with pathogens that occur in domestic animals, fish or other animals and can be transmitted to domestic animals, fish, other animals or humans (zoonoses).

Notifiable animal diseases are of particular importance.
These are animal diseases against which individual measures are not effective, which are of economic importance or endanger human health. To ensure that outbreaks of diseases can be recognized early and counteracted with state measures before the animal disease spreads, these animal diseases are subject to the obligation to notify.
All notifiable animal diseases are listed in the regulation on notifiable animal diseases. The list also includes animal diseases that have never occurred in the Federal Republic of Germany or have not occurred for a long time. This is necessary for reasons of the adoption of EU law due to bilateral agreements and international reporting obligations. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is authorized, with the consent of the Bundesrat, to introduce the obligation to notify other animal diseases or to lift them again for individual animal diseases.

In addition to the notifiable animal diseases, there are also notifiable animal diseases.
The obligation to report has been introduced for those animal diseases that can gain practical importance, are easy to diagnose and can be combated with suitable measures, including government measures if necessary. There must be a constant overview of their occurrence and distribution. Veterinary examination offices, animal health offices or other public or private examination offices as well as veterinarians who determine a notifiable disease are obliged to report. Only the proven illness is reported.

Below is a selection of important notifiable animal diseases in Germany:

• African swine fever (ASF)
• American foulbrood
• Aujeszky's disease (pseud anger)
• Avian influenza (classic avian influenza)
• bluetongue disease
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
• Bovine viral diarrhea/mucosal disease (BVD/MD)
• Bovine herpesvirus type 1 infections (BHV-1 infections; IBR, IPV, IBP)
• Brucellosis in cattle, swine, sheep and goats
• Enzootic Bovine Leukosis (EBL)
• Enzootic campylobacter abortion in cattle (bovine vibrionic disease)
• Equine Infectious Anemia
• Koi herpes virus
• foot and mouth disease
• Anthrax (Anthrax)
• Newcastle Disease (ND) (Atypical Avian Influenza)
• bovine tuberculosis
• cattle salmonellosis
• Rabies (rabies, classical rabies, terrestrial rabies)
• Viral hemorrhagic septicemia of trout (VHS)
• and Infectious Salmonid Hematopoietic Necrosis (IHN)