Paraguay vaccinated 27,602 cattle against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) to contain an outbreak of the livestock disease in the central San Pedro area that has put a halt to beef exports valued at $881 million last year.

Vaccinations also included 893 pigs and 626 sheep and goats, and 25 teams are taking livestock blood samples in the zone around the outbreak, according to a notice from Paraguay’s National Service for Animal Quality and Health published by the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE.

Beef was Paraguay’s second-largest export after soybeans last year, government data show. Brazil and Argentina, both transit points for Paraguayan exports, last month suspended beef imports from the landlocked country after the outbreak of FMD disease was reported on Sept. 18.

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