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pixie · Site Admin Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 1851

Cattle at a farm in Surrey have been found to be infected with foot-and-mouth disease.
Animals on a farm near Guildford have tested positive for the disease which swept the UK and wreaked havoc in 2001.

A three-kilometre protection zone has been put in place around the premises and a UK-wide ban imposed on movement of all livestock.

In accordance with the legislation, all the cattle on the premises will be culled, said a government spokesman.

Even the words 'foot-and-mouth' will send a chill through the spine of every farmer in the country

Tim Bonner, Countryside Alliance
The farm has been under restrictions since late on Thursday when symptoms were reported.

Debby Reynolds, UK Chief Veterinary Officer, has confirmed the outbreak after samples were taken from the farm.

She said: "We are trying to form a picture of where the infection may have come from but at the moment it's very early stages."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has taken part by telephone in a Cobra meeting, involving top staff at the Cabinet Office.

He is returning to London on Saturday from his holiday in Dorset and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn is to break off from his vacation in Italy.

Ms Reynolds advised farmers across the UK to examine their animals carefully and immediately report anything suspicious.

As well as the three Kilometre protection zone, there is also a 10 kilometre surveillance zone where nearby animals are monitored.

'Chaos' last time

National Farmers' Union President Peter Kendall said: "This is a matter of grave concern. We have an industry still depressed from low prices.

"We have to ensure this is a small isolated incident. We are working with the government to ensure the right steps are taken."

Tim Bonner, from the Countryside Alliance, said: "Even the words 'foot-and-mouth' will send a chill through the spine of every farmer in the country.

"We hope for a better response this time from the government - the last time it was chaos."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6930684.stm

barbsy · Super Member Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 570

its really worrying to see this all over again isnt it.

Rabid · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:14 pm Post subject:

pixie · Site Admin Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 1851

It looks like the infection has come from the government laboratory 3 miles away.

That must be some consolation to the farmers who should get full compensation for their loses and also knowing that it has come from a local source and not spread all over the country.

At the same time it is a disgrace that it has probably come from this source and things obviously need to be tightened up a great deal.

Disease lab faces safety inquiry

The protection zone in Surrey has been extended

Health and safety inspectors are to visit the laboratory identified as a possible source of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in Surrey.
The strain of the disease found is identical to that used for vaccines and testing at the Pirbright Laboratory.

The head of the Institute of Animal Health, which is based there, said there had been no biosecurity breaches.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has urged people to remain vigilant as the source has not been confirmed.

As well as the government's Institute of Animal Health (IAH), the laboratory houses the private pharmaceutical company Merial Animal Health.

Precautionary measures

The strain of the disease identified at Wolford farm, near Guildford, was used in a batch of vaccine manufactured on 16 July by Merial.

David Biland, Managing Director of Merial in the UK, said: "Merial will co-operate fully with the UK government to determine the source of the disease, and will fully support Defra scientists in bringing this outbreak to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion."

In a statement, IAH director Professor Martin Shirley said there had also been limited use of the strain at the institute within the past four weeks.

He said: "The Institute of Animal Health operates under strict biosecurity procedures licensed by Defra.

"In addition to our general checks on biosecurity, operation of equipment, procedures and physical barriers - which have shown no breaches of our procedures - we have been able to check our records specifically for use of this strain."

He said he welcomed the independent review into procedures at the Pirbright site.
Defra has revised the protection and surveillance zones

Mr Benn said health and safety inspectors would check the laboratory, and an urgent review of biosecurity there would also be carried out.

And he commended the authorities for their swift reaction to the outbreak at the farm, three miles from the laboratory.

Mr Benn told BBC News 24 Sunday the link to the laboratory was a "promising lead", but he added: "We don't know for sure, and therefore it's very important that people continue to be vigilant."

There had been reports of possible foot-and-mouth infection at four other farms, but these had all tested negative for the disease, he said.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has increased the size of the protection and surveillance zones covering farms in the area to 10km.

Vaccine production halted

The strain of foot-and-mouth identified is not one normally found in animals but is used in vaccine production and in diagnostic laboratories.

In a statement, Defra said: "The present indications are that this strain is a 01 BFS67-like virus, isolated in the 1967 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Great Britain."

Merial voluntarily halted vaccine production as a precaution.

BBC science correspondent David Shukman said that if the virus did escape from the Pirbright laboratory, the question to ask was how.

He said: "Like the manufacture of any vaccine to defend against a virus, this one used samples of live virus in the production process.

"Experts speculate that either it escaped through the ventilation or possibly an employee carried it out accidentally on a boot or clothing."

Hopeful news

Microbiology expert Hugh Pennington said that if the source was identified as the Pirbright laboratory it could be welcome news.

He said: "If we know exactly where the virus has come from, and particularly if it's a vaccine type of virus, it's less likely to be a nasty virus."

The review of biosecurity measures at Pirbright will be led by Professor Brian Spratt of Imperial University, who will report back to Mr Benn.

FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE
Foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious viral disease which affects cattle
Symptoms include fever, lesions in the mouth and lameness
The disease only crosses the species barrier from cattle to human with very great difficulty
The disease in humans is mild, short-lived and requires no medical treatment

Mr Benn also commended Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds for the swift response to the outbreak.

A revised 3km protection zone now encompasses both the infected farm premises and the Pirbright site, with the surveillance zone extending to a 10km radius.

A ban on the movement of all livestock is in place in England, Scotland and Wales after infected cattle were culled at the Surrey farm.

Northern Ireland has imposed a ban on all cattle, sheep and pigs from Britain, but there are currently no restrictions on the movement of livestock within NI and across the border.

Mr Benn said: "The lessons of foot-and-mouth in 2001 were in essence that you had to act quickly, you needed to have systems and you needed to follow the science. And that's exactly what we've done."

He pointed to the fact that a ban on animal movements was imposed in about three hours on Friday, as opposed to the three days it took in 2001.

There is also an 8km air exclusion zone around the site.

Some 64 cattle have since been culled at the infected farm, and there has been a cull of one other herd of cattle adjacent to the farm as a precautionary measure.

The outbreak in 2001 led to between 6.5 million and 10 million animals being destroyed and cost as much as £8.5bn.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6931858.stm