UK foot and mouth outbreak spreads
A Reuters report in the UK says that a second outbreak of foot and mouth disease in a herd of cattle in the UK has been confirmed, raising fears the highly damaging animal disease may spread.
The owner of the first farm where the disease broke out said he was “completely shocked and devastated” by the outbreak which forced the slaughter of his entire herd.
Lending weight to one theory of how the virus spread, farmer Roger Pride said a sewer in a field where his cattle were grazing had overflowed.
Animals from both sites have been culled and 3 km exclusion zones and 10 km protection zones set up around the farms and the site of two research laboratories which have handled the virus.
“We’ve got to keep on top of this outbreak and make sure it doesn’t spread anywhere else,” Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told BBC television. He urged all farmers to be highly vigilant and check animals regularly for any sign of illness.
The outbreak, the first in Britain since 2001, when the illness devastated the farming community and tourism industry, also poses an immediate threat to the livestock industry, whose meat exports are worth more than £493 million a year.
The agriculture ministry denied reports that a third suspected case had been found near the first confirmed site.
Foot and mouth disease, which affects cloven-hoofed animals and can be carried on the wind, was confirmed in a small herd of cattle in Surrey on Friday.
More than six million animals were burnt on vast funeral pyres and the crisis cost agriculture and the rural tourism industry around £8.5 billion.
The European Union banned all British exports of fresh meat, live animals and milk products last Friday when the disease was first confirmed.
It is still not clear how the outbreak began, but investigators are focusing on two animal research laboratories – one run by the government, the other private – sited about 8 km from where the disease first erupted.
They are also considering whether recent floods may have contributed to the transmission of the virus.
Economist Mark Miller from the HBOS bank said swift action would limit the damage but voiced concern the outbreak could have a negative impact on British economic output.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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