August 13, 2007

 

UK Prime minister says FMD spread halted

 

 

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday (August 10) that foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) had been stopped from spreading outside a small area of England, despite tests for a suspected new outbreak in a herd several miles from the initial cluster of cases.

 

The first batch of tests on the herd was negative, BBC television reported.

 

"We have restricted the disease to a limited area of this country," Brown said. "The risk of it spreading out of these areas is low, if not negligible."

 

Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds said an interim epidemiology report on the outbreak "indicates that infection may be contained to the Surrey area."

 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that animals slaughtered Wednesday as a precaution on a farm within the protection zone around the original outbreak didn't have foot-and-mouth disease.

 

The farm was adjacent to one of two properties where livestock had tested positive for the disease. More than 500 animals have been killed since the outbreak began.

 

Foot-and-mouth disease does not typically infect humans, but its appearance among farm animals can have a swift and possibly far-reaching economic impact -several countries have banned imports of British livestock and Britain has voluntarily suspended exports of livestock, meat and milk products and destroyed more than 570 cows since the outbreak was identified last week.

 

The UK health and safety agency says there is a "strong probability" that outbreak originated at the Pirbright laboratory southwest of London and was spread by human movement.

 

The virus was first discovered last week on a farm 4 miles from the Pirbright complex, which houses vaccine-maker Merial Animal Health - UK arm of Merial Ltd. Merial is a joint venture between Sanofi-Aventis SA and Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) - and the UK's Institute of Animal Health.

 

Merial said it has found no evidence of breaches in biosecurity at the facility. The Institute of Animal Health said Thursday new checks of systems to prevent viruses escaping through the facility's water system had reported no problems.