SERVICES

E-MAIL SERVICES
CNN MOBILE
CNN AVANT GO
DESKTOP TICKER
ABOUT US
AD INFO

CNN TV

what's on
biz international
inside sailing
the music room
show transcripts
how to get CNN TV
anchors/reporters
bureaux
CNN Partner Hotels

EDITIONS

CNN.com U.S.
CNN.com Asia
CNNArabic.com
CNNEspañol.com
set your edition

Foot-and-mouth reaches Netherlands


Carcasses of sheep are dumped in a pit near Inverness, Scotland

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed in the Netherlands, the country's agriculture ministry has said.

A spokesman told CNN the livestock disease has been confirmed on a farm in the east of the country and was so strongly suspected on another nearby site that it was being treated as a second confirmed outbreak.

The Netherlands is the second country in mainland Europe to be infected with the highly contagious disease which has swept through the UK since it was first identified last month.

A single case was confirmed last week in north-west France.

AUDIO

National Farmers' Union President Ben Gill: Risk when meat is in transit

250K/23 sec.
AIFF or WAV sound

CNN's Tom Mintier: Protests from the tourist trade

460K/42 sec.
AIFF or WAV sound

IN-DEPTH

Foot-and-mouth: Fear and slaughter


•	Disease timeline
•	Q&A on the disease
•	Humans test negative
•	Interactive map
•	Global incidents
•	Key players
•	News search
•	Audio/video archive

Meanwhile officials in the Republic of Ireland said on Wednesday that a farm in County Louth, near the border with Northern Ireland, has been placed under restrictions following a suspected outbreak of the disease.

Gabor Oolthuis, from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, said foot-and-mouth had been confirmed among cows on a farm in Olst, while it was strongly suspected that goats at a farm in the nearby town of Oene also have the disease, he said.

Suspected cases have also been identified in Oosterwolde and Maren-Kessel which had links with the farm in Oene.

All animals in a one kilometre radius of the four sites will be destroyed, Oolthuis said, and the government has implemented a total ban on livestock movements inside the country to control the spread of the disease.

Oolthuis said the source of the outbreak in Olst was not clear since no animals have been moved to or from the farm this year.

He said the Dutch government was treating the case in Oene as a confirmed outbreak of the disease because of its proximity to the Olst farm and because the animals had displayed "very strong symptoms."

He added, however, that the Netherlands hoped to be able to control the disease.


A worker sprays disinfectant on a car near the one confirmed French outbreak

"We have had measures in place since the outbreak began in Britain. The transport ban introduced today, which covers all livestock, is an extension of one we already had in place for cloven-hoofed animals," he said.

The European Commission at once said it would propose a ban on the export from the Netherlands of livestock susceptible to foot-and-mouth.

The Commission would also ask its chief veterinary officers to ban untreated milk, meat and meat products from the region hit by the outbreak, officials said.

A European Union ban on British livestock and meat exports was extended until April 4 on Tuesday.

The number of sites affected in the UK rose to 411 on Wednesday.

But EU veterinary experts agreed to relax similar restrictions on France, provided there are no new cases there.

Last week, a single case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in Mayenne, in the north-west, but the outbreak appears to have been kept under control.

French Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany said France felt increasingly confident but remained at risk because of its proximity to Britain.

"Every day that passes reassures us, but it is too early to cry victory," Glavany told Le Figaro newspaper on Wednesday.

"But with so many new sites per day over (in Britain), which means on our doorstep, the risk remains great: wind, thousands of tourists or trucks which cross the Channel every day can carry the virus to us."

In the past two weeks there have been alerts in several countries -- including France, Germany, Italy and Belgium -- where animals have shown foot-and-mouth symptoms of blisters.

Thousands of Italian farmers held a protest in Rome on Wednesday, demanding improved food safety in the wake of public concern over the virus other food scares, such as mad cow disease.

The EU has imposed strict curbs on the movement of livestock susceptible to the foot-and-mouth -- cattle, sheep, pigs and goats -- throughout the 15 member states.

Only direct farm-to-farm and farm-to-slaughterhouse transport is allowed and only then with prior approval from the authorities.

Foot-and-mouth, which is harmless to humans but destroys the economic value of livestock, is highly-contagious. It can be carried on the soles of shoes, the tyres of vehicles or even on the air.

Reuters contributed to this report.