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Foot-and-mouth hits France


Smoke from a funeral pyre drifts across the British countryside

PARIS, France -- The first case of foot-and-mouth disease in mainland Europe has been confirmed in France.

The French Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday that tests carried out on a cattle farm in the north-west of the country, proved positive for the highly-contagious virus.

The afflicted herd was close to a farm which had imported sheep from the UK, where 191 cases of foot-and-mouth have now been confirmed since the outbreak began last month.

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Foot-and-mouth: Fear and slaughter


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Belgium responded by announcing a ban on imports of all cloven-hoofed livestock from France, starting at 1400 GMT on Tuesday.

And as farmers around mainland Europe went on alert, a flock of 390 sheep in Italy was quarantined after several were found to have antibodies in their blood, indicating they had been exposed to the virus .

The farm, near Pescara in the central Abruzzo region, had imported the animals from France. More tests are now being carried out.

A number of other farms in France are also under close surveillance because livestock has been found to contain foot-and-mouth antibodies.

The one confirmed case is in the province of Mayenne, where veterinary officials said on Monday they had "strong suspicions" that six cows were suffering from the disease.

Those suspicions proved accurate following overnight analysis of tests by France's food safety agency, AFSSA, the ministry said.

All 114 animals in the herd have been destroyed and an exclusion zone has been set up around the farm.

CNN's Paris bureau chief Peter Humi said: "This is going to cause all sorts of problems, not only for France, but across continental Europe.

"Foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious viral disease -- there is only so much that can be done to stop it spreading."

French officials brought in emergency measures two weeks ago to try to prevent the virus reaching the country, Humi said, including a ban on the movement and sale of all livestock.

Thousands of healthy animals linked to British farms were also slaughtered.

Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany told French radio the first case "justifies all the draconian measures that we have taken over the past 15 days."

CNN's Jim Bittermann said Glavany has been criticised at home for his tough stance.

"Even this morning there was a protest by transporters upset at the ban on movement of animals within France, which has affected their livelihoods," he said.

"Of course the situation changed as soon as the case was confirmed."

Foot-and-mouth disease can even be carried by air, and although it is harmless to humans and not fatal for most animals, it destroys their economic value.

The British government has confirmed that soldiers are on standby to help combat what officials have admitted is a "major outbreak". On Monday alone, 19 new cases were confirmed.

Discussions have begun with the army over the use of troops to cull wild pigs in East Anglia, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said.

Britain insists disease under control

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown warned that up to 500,000 sheep, due to start lambing, may have to be killed in a bid to stop the disease spreading. That is in addition to the 155,000 animals already earmarked for slaughter, of which 116,000 have been culled.

But he insisted the outbreak is not out of control.

"Although I can say with certainty that we have it under control, what I cannot say with certainty is how many cases are incubating or where they may emerge," Brown said on Monday.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is beginning a series of talks on Tuesday with people affected by the UK outbreak.

As well as farmers, he will meet representatives of those outside the British farming industry, like hauliers and hoteliers.

"There's huge concern out there about foot-and-mouth disease and that concern is no longer there just for the farming community but for the wider rural community -- shops, businesses, hotels," Blair said.

"I know it's very frustrating at the moment because we simply don't know how foot-and-mouth is going to develop to its fullest extent. We are monitoring it every day."

The British Tourist Authority says it fears that domestic and international tourists are being put off travelling in the country after wide swathes of countryside were declared off limits.

It says rural tourism should be worth about �150 million ($225 million) a week at this time of year, but trade has fallen by up to 75 percent.

The European Union has extended a ban on British livestock exports until March 27, suspended livestock markets for at least a week and imposed strict curbs on cross-border animal movements.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.