Foot and Mouth Outbreak May Have Started at Nearby Animal Research Laboratory

It seems that the foot and mouth outbreak in the UK may have been caused by an animal research laboratory at Pirbright close to the infected farm. The strain of the disease is the same as is used in the lab.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says the strain of the virus detected is the same as the strain used at the Pirbright laboratory a few miles from the infected area.

It is not definite that the laboratory is the source of the disease but the size of the protection and surveillance zones have been increased.

Defra said the strain is not one recently found in animals but is similar to ones used in diagnostic laboratories and vaccine production.

After a biosecurity failure it is feared that the virus was carried on the wind and infected cattle grazing in a field three miles away.

There is also the possibility, strange as it may seem that the release was deliberate.

David Biland, Managing Director of pharmaceuticals company, Merial Animal Health which has a facility at Pirbright 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 Bedfordshire, Woburn Abbey's deer park and safari park were closed yesterday, while Whipsnade Zoo closed its drive-through section.

The strain of the disease is thought to be relatively mild, less virulent than the pan-Asian strain that caused such devasatation in 2001.

More than 60 organic beef cattle belonging to Roger Pride were slaughtered and taken away for incineration.

Animals in fields around the affected farm may be vaccinated against the disease, but vaccine production cannot begin until the strain has been identified.

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