Animal health

Healthy animals play an important role in the efficiency of the agricultural sector and the safety of foods. To maintain animals' health, they require good husbandry conditions, effective prevention against and combating ofanimal diseases and animal epidemics, suitable feed and effective authorised veterinary medicinal products.

In Germany, animal health is safeguarded by legislation and the veterinary administration. As animal diseases do not stop at national borders, the Federal Ministry works continuously with the veterinary authorities of other Member States and third countries.

The Federal Ministry provides information on animal diseases such as swine fever.

Overview of topics

African Swine Fever (ASF): information on cases in Germany

In Germany, cases of African Swine Fever have occurred in wild boar in Brandenburg, Saxony and Mecklenburg Western Pomerania. The first case was confirmed in a wild boar in the rural district of Spree-Neiße in September 2020. So far, any further spread of the disease has been prevented. Therefore no other Länder have been affected. On 15 July 2021, the virus was first detected in kept porcine animals. This was followed by further individual ASF outbreaks in kept porcine animals in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony. These outbreaks have meanwhile been eradicated and both the official measures associated with these outbreaks and the restricted zones have been lifted. Currently there are only ASF cases in wild boar.

(Detailed information on the respective cases is available in the press reports below as well as the Animal Disease Information System (TSIS)).

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"DART 2020" continues the German Antibiotic Resistance Strategy

The Federal Cabinet adopted DART 2020, the new German Antibiotic Resistance Strategy, on 13 May 2015. This continues and reinforces the efforts initiated in 2008 to fight antibiotic resistances.

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Antibiotics in agriculture

Antibiotics are the most important instrument for the treatment of infectious diseases. However, Germany is also seeing an increase in cases of antimicrobial resistance. Due to this, drugs may no longer be effective in diseased people or animals. As each use of antibiotics can produce resistance it must be ensured that antibiotics are only used when it is absolutely necessary, especially in animals used to produce food.

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16th AMG Amendment

Infections caused by bacterial pathogens are treated with antimicrobials in both humans and animals. Resistant bacteria have the ability to protect themselves from the action of antimicrobials and thus impair the efficacy of these medicinal products.

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