August 7, 2007 

 

Another herd suspected of having FMD in Britain

 

 

British officials on Monday (August 6) night began slaughtering a second herd of cattle suspected of being infected with foot-and-mouth disease as part of efforts to stamp out the disease. The European Union, meanwhile, endorsed Britain's decision to ban meat and dairy exports.

 

Biosecurity experts were focusing their investigation of how the outbreak started on a suspected link between the first affected farm and a nearby vaccine laboratory, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said. Investigators were also looking into the possibility that flooding had helped the spread of the virus.

 

Officials late Monday (August 6) began killing a new group of about 50 cattle who were suspected of having the disease, British Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds said. The cows were within the initial three-kilometre-radius protection zone that officials set up Friday around the farm where the first group of infected cattle were found.

 

"The vets, as part of their visits in the protection zone, have found clinical signs suspected of being foot-and-mouth disease," Reynolds told Sky News. She said test results from the group of slaughtered cows were expected to be completed Tuesday, but the precautionary slaughter had already begun.

 

Veterinary experts matched the strain found last week in cattle on a farm outside Wanborough, 30 miles southwest of London, to the laboratory that is used to produce vaccine against the disease.

 

Foot-and-mouth disease affects cloven-hoofed animals including cows, sheep, pigs and goats, but doesn't typically affect humans.

 

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who broke off a vacation to handle the response, held talks at his London office with farming union leaders and pledged swift action during a visit Monday to the emergency response centre in Reigate, in southern England.

 

"No resources will be spared to get to the bottom of this because we know the future of farming depends on it," he said.

 

Brown said inquiries were continuing to pinpoint the cause of the outbreak, but acknowledged the disease strain found in two infected cattle is the same used at the research laboratory about 6.4 kilometres from the scene of the outbreak.

 

The laboratory is shared by the government's Institute for Animal Health, or IAH, and a private pharmaceutical company, Merial Animal Health - the British arm of US-based Merial Ltd.

 

Merial said it found no evidence of a breach in biosecurity, and the IAH claimed a check of records found "limited use" of the virus in the past four weeks.

 

"It is still too early in this investigation for anyone to determine the cause of the outbreak," said Merial Animal Health Managing Director David Biland.

 

The company said Monday night that it was temporarily resuming production of its foot-and-mouth disease vaccine to meet an order from the government for 300,000 doses of a strain-specific vaccine. It said in a statement that it was maintaining a voluntary suspension of all other activities at its Pirbright centre.

 

Benn said a report by the health inspectors is expected within 48 hours.

 

"We have got to make sure this doesn't spread any further," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio, recalling scenes in 2001 when 7 million animals were culled and incinerated on pyres dotted across the landscape, devastating agriculture and rural tourism in Britain.

 

Last month's flooding is also being examined as a possible cause of the outbreak, Reynolds told a news conference.

 

Reynolds said the strain matched samples taken during Britain's 1967 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The strain had not been seen in animals for a long time, but was used to produce vaccines, she said.

 

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers Union, said following talks with Brown that his members were angry the outbreak may have begun at a research laboratory.

 

Farmers had worked hard to meet tight controls on the movement of livestock since the 2001 outbreak and would be horrified if scientists had mistakenly released the disease through lax practices, he said.

 

"We want this stamped out and controlled and life getting back to normal," Kendall said. "The most important thing at this moment is eradication and containment."

 

The first herd of around 120 cows were slaughtered after Saturday the virus was identified and confirmed in two animals, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, or DEFRA, said.

 

The farmer first noticed signs of illness in his cows on July 29 and notified authorities on Thursday, according to a government report filed to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

 

The European Commission endorsed Britain's ban on the export of livestock, meat and milk. The commission also backed London's decision to halt movement of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs nationwide to prevent the spread of the virus.

 

Imports of British pigs and pork products have been banned by the US, Japan, Russia and South Korea in response to the outbreak. The US and Japan already have bans in place on British beef imports.