Laboratory Link
August 5, 2007
The strain of foot-and-mouth disease discovered in cattle on a farm in southern England is similar to the strain of virus used for research and vaccine manufacture at a nearby laboratory, British officials announced late Saturday.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it could not immediately say whether either of the high-security labs, -- one run by the Institute for Animal Health and the other by the Merial pharmaceutical company -- was the source of the outbreak five kilometers (3.1 miles) away on a farm in Surrey County.
In response to the revelation, Defra ordered a wider quarantine zone that included both the farm and the laboratory and were focusing their attention on the two labs on Sunday.
Similar to research strain
Defra said the strain of foot and mouth found in 60 head of cattle on Friday had not been detected in animals in some time and was actually a strain isolated nearly 40 years ago by British biological researchers.
"The foot and mouth strain found in Surrey is not one currently known to be recently found in animals," Defra said in a statement. "It is most similar to strains used in international diagnostic laboratories and in vaccine production."
The department said that the Institute for Animal Health and Merial Animal Health were two institutes known to use the virus strain.
"Immediate action is being taken with an investigation led by the Health and Safety Executive at the Institute for Animal Health and Merial," Defra said.
The affected animals, as well as a nearby herd, were culled on Saturday. The disease poses little danger to human health.
Britain's agriculture ministry said Saturday it had voluntarily suspended all exports of animal carcasses, meat and milk to the European Union.
EU: Britain took necessary steps
The European Commission announced export limits on British meat and livestock, with a formal decision on emergency measures expected on Monday.
Britain had followed all the EU measures required when an outbreak of foot-and-mouth is detected, European Commission spokesman Christiane Hohmann said.
Germany sealed off five farms as a precautionary measure following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Britain, officials said Sunday.
Four of the farms, in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate states, had recently purchased sheep from a farm 150 kilometers from the site of the outbreak in southern England. The fifth farm was in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania, where a horse imported from England was under quarantine.
Officials said livestock at the farms would be examined and placed under observation and that no transport of animals to or from the farms would be permitted until after the ban was lifted.
Ireland's Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan told national broadcaster RTE that Dublin had banned the import of all live animals, fresh meat and non-pasteurized milk from Britain to prevent the spread of the disease.
The French agriculture ministry said on Saturday that it would inspect all cattle, pigs, sheep and goats imported from Britain in the past 10 days to ensure the disease does not spread to France.
Ministers return to London
In response to the outbreak British Prime Minister Gordon Brown cancelled his holiday and chaired a meeting of the government's emergency committee, Cobra. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn also returned to London from a vacation in Italy.
British authorities asked farmers to be vigilant for signs of the disease in their livestock and the country's National Farmers' Union said it was cooperating with authorities to keep the disease from spreading.
"We have to ensure this is a small isolated incident," said Peter Kendall, the union's president. "We are working with the government to ensure the right steps are taken."
An outbreak of the disease in Britain in 2001 led to the destruction of between 6.5 million and 10 million animals and financial losses of an estimated 8 billion pounds ($16.3 billion, 11.9 billion euros) and hit the UK's agricultural and tourism industries particularly hard.