UK: Foot and mouth not spreading

PIRBRIGHT, England (CNN) -- British authorities announced Friday that a foot and mouth outbreak is not likely to spread outside a controlled zone in southern England where two cases of the highly-transmissible virus have been confirmed.

Both cases occurred in two farms in Surrey, southwest of London, but fears that a farm outside the precautionary three kilometer-wide "temporary control zone" was contaminated have proved unfounded.

If the disease was found to have spread the British government may have been looking at a repeat of the disastrous foot and mouth epidemic of 2001 that saw more than six million animals slaughtered to contain the problem.

Further tests on livestock culled on Hunts Hill Farm, the third farm within the protection area in Surrey, did not have foot and mouth disease, the UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said.

In the wake of the findings British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sought to dampen any panic over the foot and mouth outbreak. He said Britain was working to get back to normal outside of the restricted zones and added the country "is open for business."

The latest tests in and out of the control zone came as a precautionary measure after an "inconclusive assessment of clinical symptoms" by veterinary staff, a statement from DEFRA said.

Earlier the government's chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds said cattle farmers should remain "vigilant for disease" and report any "suspicions quickly". DEFRA said the national movement ban on cattle still stands, but feed and fodder movement in and outside the farms in the testing area is permitted. (Watch how foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed on a second farm) »

The announcement of no new outbreak comes three days after Reynolds said a second outbreak had occurred on a second Surrey farm after as many as 150 veterinarians and staff in the affected area inspected livestock on 46 farms and found the second outbreak. The first cases of foot-and-mouth were found in cattle at Woolford Farm last Friday. Cattle in both cases have been culled.

So far dozens of cattle have been culled and there was, and remains, concern that the highly transmissible virus could spread nationwide and cause massive losses for farmers.

During a 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak in Great Britain -- blamed for nearly 2,000 cases -- more than six million sheepanimals were slaughtered in an effort to contain the disease -- an effort critics said was too slow to get under way.

National Farmers' Union spokesman Anthony Gibson said that, while lessons have been learned about the 2001 outbreak, "we can't be confident at this stage that we can nip this outbreak in the bud."

"But if we can't, it won't be due to lack of effort or shortcomings by any of the farmers or officials who have been involved in dealing with the outbreak so far," he added.

Reynolds added that the Government has decided not to vaccinate but will retain it as an option. E-mail to a friend

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