A Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak in Greece Is Getting Worse. Here's What Veterinary Professionals Need to Know.

What began in March on a single Greek island has become one of the most serious animal disease events in Europe in decades, and the situation is still moving in the wrong direction.

Foot-and-mouth disease caused by the SAT1 serotype was confirmed on the island of Lesvos on March 16, 2026, marking the first FMD occurrence in Greece in over 25 years. As of early May, 76 farms have been affected, with more than 4,400 confirmed cases among nearly 30,500 susceptible animals, the majority of them sheep and goats. Approximately 28,000 to 30,000 animals have been culled under a whole-herd stamping-out policy. Twenty-eight new outbreaks were recorded in just the two-week window between April 20 and May 4, meaning the virus is still spreading despite containment measures that have been in place since mid-March.

That last detail is the one that should get your attention.

Why stamping-out alone is not working

Epidemiological analysis suggests the virus had already achieved broad geographic spread across Lesvos before or shortly after the initial detection. Several farms have reported infection rates above 90 percent within the herd, which is consistent with the rapid aerosol and fomite transmission dynamics typical of FMD SAT1 in dense small-ruminant populations. Sheep and goats also tend to show less obvious clinical signs than cattle, which means delayed detection on farms is a real and ongoing risk.

Greek authorities have not implemented vaccination, and the reason is worth understanding. EU disease-free status is not just a health designation. It is a trade credential. Greece's feta cheese exports alone are valued at approximately one billion euros annually, and that market access depends on maintaining that status. EU Regulation 2020/687 does permit emergency vaccination, but it also mandates continued culling of positive herds even if vaccination is introduced. The continued failure of culling alone to stop transmission is increasing pressure on authorities to reconsider, and that decision is now actively under evaluation.

A regional problem, not an island problem

SAT1 outbreaks have also been confirmed in Cyprus and Turkey, and on May 5 the ministers of rural development from Greece and Cyprus signed a bilateral agreement to strengthen cooperation, share epidemiological data, and coordinate veterinary responses. That agreement is a formal acknowledgment that this outbreak cannot be managed at the island level. The eastern Mediterranean is dealing with a regional event, and coordinated surveillance and harmonized biosecurity across borders are now operationally necessary.

The compounding factor nobody is talking about enough

Greece is simultaneously managing a sheep pox and goat pox epidemic that has resulted in nearly 500,000 additional animal culls nationwide since August 2024. The convergence of two high-impact livestock diseases on the same veterinary infrastructure is straining response capacity, farmer compliance, and surveillance coverage in ways that meaningfully increase the risk of delayed detection and further spread.

What this means for veterinary professionals in the U.S.

FMD SAT1 is not currently present in the United States, and the USDA maintains active surveillance and import restrictions designed to keep it that way. But outbreaks of this scale in Europe are a reminder of how quickly a disease-free status can be lost, how economically devastating a single introduction can be, and why biosecurity, surveillance, and transboundary coordination are not bureaucratic exercises. They are the infrastructure that makes everything else in food animal medicine possible.

This situation is still developing. Stay informed.

What began in March on a single Greek island has become one of the most serious animal disease events in Europe in decades, and the situation is still moving in the wrong direction.

Foot-and-mouth disease caused by the SAT1 serotype was confirmed on the island of Lesvos on March 16, 2026, marking the first FMD occurrence in Greece in over 25 years. As of early May, 76 farms have been affected, with more than 4,400 confirmed cases among nearly 30,500 susceptible animals, the majority of them sheep and goats. Approximately 28,000 to 30,000 animals have been culled under a whole-herd stamping-out policy. Twenty-eight new outbreaks were recorded in just the two-week window between April 20 and May 4, meaning the virus is still spreading despite containment measures that have been in place since mid-March.

That last detail is the one that should get your attention.

Why stamping-out alone is not working

Epidemiological analysis suggests the virus had already achieved broad geographic spread across Lesvos before or shortly after the initial detection. Several farms have reported infection rates above 90 percent within the herd, which is consistent with the rapid aerosol and fomite transmission dynamics typical of FMD SAT1 in dense small-ruminant populations. Sheep and goats also tend to show less obvious clinical signs than cattle, which means delayed detection on farms is a real and ongoing risk.

Greek authorities have not implemented vaccination, and the reason is worth understanding. EU disease-free status is not just a health designation. It is a trade credential. Greece's feta cheese exports alone are valued at approximately one billion euros annually, and that market access depends on maintaining that status. EU Regulation 2020/687 does permit emergency vaccination, but it also mandates continued culling of positive herds even if vaccination is introduced. The continued failure of culling alone to stop transmission is increasing pressure on authorities to reconsider, and that decision is now actively under evaluation.

A regional problem, not an island problem

SAT1 outbreaks have also been confirmed in Cyprus and Turkey, and on May 5 the ministers of rural development from Greece and Cyprus signed a bilateral agreement to strengthen cooperation, share epidemiological data, and coordinate veterinary responses. That agreement is a formal acknowledgment that this outbreak cannot be managed at the island level. The eastern Mediterranean is dealing with a regional event, and coordinated surveillance and harmonized biosecurity across borders are now operationally necessary.

The compounding factor nobody is talking about enough

Greece is simultaneously managing a sheep pox and goat pox epidemic that has resulted in nearly 500,000 additional animal culls nationwide since August 2024. The convergence of two high-impact livestock diseases on the same veterinary infrastructure is straining response capacity, farmer compliance, and surveillance coverage in ways that meaningfully increase the risk of delayed detection and further spread.