Foot and Mouth outbreak in England

[Vanhalen 0]

Christ, as some of you guys know I live in Cumbria, and the foot and mouth outbreak completley devestated this area back in 2001, please dont let this be a repeat, I still remember seing the funeral pyres of hundreds and hundreds of cattle being incinerated.

 

Stolen from bbc.co.uk/news

 

The strain of foot-and-mouth disease found at a Surrey farm has been identified, Defra has said.

 

The strain in infected cattle is identical to that used for vaccines at the Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright, three miles from the farm.

 

Defra could not say the laboratory was the source but has increased the size of the protection and surveillance zones covering farms in the area.

 

An urgent assessment of bio security has begun at the institute.

 

Precautionary measures

 

The strain is not one normally found in animals but is used in vaccine production and in diagnostic laboratories.

 

In a statement, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said: "The present indications are that this strain is a 01 BFS67-like virus, isolated in the 1967 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Great Britain."

 

The strain was used in a vaccine batch manufactured on 16 July by a private pharmaceutical company Merial Animal Health.

 

The firm shares Pirbright with the government's Institute for Animal Health (IAH), which conducts research into foot-and-mouth and where the strain is also present.

 

BBC science correspondent David Shukman said that if the virus did escape from the Pirbright laboratory, the question to ask was how.

 

He said: "Like the manufacture of any vaccine to defend against a virus, this one used samples of live virus in the production process.

 

"Experts speculate that either it escaped through the ventilation or possibly an employee carried it out accidentally on a boot or clothing."

 

Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds said it was too soon to say anything conclusive about the source of the virus but it was clear which strain was involved.

 

"That is carried at the Pirbright facility, at Meriel for vaccine production, and indeed at the Institute for Animal Health, on the same premises on the same location for diagnostic purposes," she said.

 

Hopeful news

 

Microbiology expert Hugh Pennington said that if the source is identified as the Pirbright laboratory it could be welcome news.

 

He said: "If we know exactly where the virus has come from, and particularly if it's a vaccine type of virus, it's less likely to be a nasty virus.

 

"We know there isn't uncertainty about the source, so that means there isn't going to be virus in Cumbria or in Scotland, or in Wales from the same source as the virus that has caused this infection in Surrey, it's a localised problem."

 

An urgent review has been launched into bio security measures at Pirbright, led by Professor Brian Spratt of Imperial University, who is due to report to Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and Dr Reynolds.

 

Defra said that it was too soon to reach any firm conclusions.

 

Merial said in a statement: "The decision to suspend production has been taken in full consultation with Defra and will enable Defra to carry out a thorough investigation into all possible sources of this outbreak."

 

Following the outbreak on the farm a 3km protection zone was put in place around the premises, close to the village of Wanborough, to try to halt the spread of the disease which wreaked havoc across the UK in 2001.

 

The UK's chief vet has now ordered a single protection zone to encompass both the infected farm premises and the Pirbright site, with a single 10km radius surveillance zone.

 

There is also an 8km air exclusion zone around the site.

 

There has been a cull of one other herd of cattle adjacent to the farm as a precautionary measure but there were no signs of infection in any animals there, Ms Reynolds confirmed.

 

She appealed to farmers to be vigilant and to check their animals for any sign of foot-and-mouth disease.

 

Andrew Biggs, of the British Cattle Veterinary Association, said: "It doesn't surprise me greatly. The proximity of this farm to Pirbright was something some of us had noticed."

 

Paul Temple, of the National Farmers' Union, said he was keeping an open mind over the situation.

 

A UK-wide ban on the movement of livestock put in place after foot-and-mouth was confirmed at Wolford farm, near Guildford, on Friday night will continue.

 

Some 64 cattle have since been culled at the farm after testing positive for the foot-and-mouth.

 

On Saturday evening Prime Minister Gordon Brown chaired his second Cobra emergency committee meeting of the day on the issue after he cut short his Dorset holiday to return to London.

 

He is due to chair another meeting of Cobra on Sunday morning.

 

The outbreak in 2001 led to between 6.5 million and 10 million animals being destroyed and cost as much as £8.5bn.

 

Defra has set up a helpline in response to the latest outbreak on 08459 335577.

 

What is foot-and-mouth disease?

Disinfectant being used during 2001 foot and mouth outbreak

Disinfectant must be used to move machinery in the exclusion zone

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a virus which affects animals - very few human cases have ever been recorded.

 

It is endemic in animals in many parts of the world including Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America.

 

The disease affects cloven-hoofed animals, in particular cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and deer.

 

It has serious implications for animal health and for the economics of the livestock industry. But the government says it is not a public health concern.

 

There are seven different FMD types - O, A, C, SAT-1, SAT-2, SAT-3 and Asia-1. They show some regionality, with the O type most common.

 

The virus is present in fluid from blisters, and can also occur in saliva and milk.

 

Animals can pick up the virus by direct contact with an infected animal or by contact with foodstuffs.

 

Airborne spread of the disease is also known to have taken place and the movement of animals, persons and vehicles can also have an impact.

 

Some outbreaks in the past have been linked with the importation of infected meat.

 

Milk yields

 

Foot-and-mouth disease crosses the species barrier to human with very great difficulty.

 

The last human case in the UK occurred in 1966. The disease in humans, in the very rare cases to date, is mild, short-lived and needs no medical treatment.

 

While FMD is not normally fatal to adult animals, it is debilitating and causes significant loss of productivity - milk yields may drop or animals may become lame.

 

In young animals it can be fatal on a large scale, says the government's Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

 

An animal owner who suspects foot-and-mouth contact Defra which will take samples for testing.

 

Product treatment

 

Once a case of foot-and-mouth is confirmed in the UK, movement restrictions are put in place to help contain the disease.

 

Officials set up a 3km protection zone and a surveillance zone with a minimum radius of 10km.

 

Foot-and-mouth - cattle

Slobbering, smacking lips

Shivering

Tender and sore feet

Reduced milk

Sores, blisters on feet

Raised temperature

 

In the protection zone, the movement of animals, animal products, feed and bedding are prohibited, unless a special licence is obtained.

 

A ban on movement across a wider area may also be introduced.

 

In both the protection and surveillance zones, there will be increased levels of biosecurity on farms, with disinfectant used on footwear, clothing and vehicles.

 

Foot-and-mouth - sheep

Sudden, severe lameness

Unwilling to rise

Reluctant to move

Reduced milk

Hoof blisters

Dental/tongue blisters

 

Infected and other susceptible animals are valued and slaughtered.

 

Products from animals in the prohibited zones will also be subject to treatment to ensure destruction of the FMD virus.

 

Such treatments can include the pasteurisation of milk, which is a normal process for most milk produced in the UK, as well as heat treatment or deboning and maturation of meat in certain circumstances.

 

Foot-and-mouth - pigs

Sudden lameness

Prefers to lie down

Squeals, hobbles when made to move

Hoof blisters

Snout/tongue blisters

 

Export health certificates for animals and animal products will be withdrawn.

 

Exports from the UK of susceptible animals during the risk period will be identified and notified to the importing countries.

 

Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of microbiology at Aberdeen University, said: "It will have a consequence for exports as Britain is now a foot-and-mouth affected country."

 

But he added: "This is not a virus that affects people, there is not a threat if you drink milk or eat beef, it is not a human threat at all."

[Vanhalen 0]

Some images and background of the 2001 FMD Outbreak so you can see why people are so worried about this potential outbreak.

 

 

 

 

 

BBC News Online looks back at the critical early stages of the outbreak and what went wrong.

 

19 February 2001

A routine inspection at Cheale Meats abattoir in Essex finds signs of foot-and-mouth disease in 27 pigs.

 

Samples are sent away for analysis. It is now believed that the virus had already spread to 57 farms nationwide in the days before the discovery.

 

Government contingency plans, drawn up in the wake of the 1967 epidemic, were based on an outbreak occurring in maximum of 10 farms.

 

It had already been superseded by events before the first case was even confirmed.

 

20 February

The now-defunct Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) confirms that the tests have proved positive.

 

The abattoir and two farms which supplied them have five-mile exclusion zones put around them. The disease is also found at a farm next door to Cheale Meats.

 

It is believed that Maff first contacted the Ministry of Defence to discuss co-operation in handling the crisis, although no concrete help was requested at this point.

 

21 February

All exports of live animals, meat and dairy products are banned by the UK Government, although the movement of animals within the UK continues.

 

The European Commission bans the import of live animals and animal products from the UK.

 

Northern Ireland blocks the import of animal and dairy products from the UK mainland.

 

22 February

A livestock market is held in Longtown Cumbria. With export bans in place, there are more animals for sale on the domestic market than usual.

 

Undetected, some of them are carrying foot-and-mouth.

 

Crucially, the UK livestock trade has changed markedly since the 1967 outbreak: what was once a local trade has now gone national, meaning the disease is able to spread much more quickly, and much further afield.

 

23 February

The government introduces a ban on the movement of animals from affected areas.

 

24 February

The first mass slaughter, involving thousands of pigs and cattle, gets underway in farms across England.

 

2 March

Faced with overwhelming numbers of animals awaiting slaughter, the government calls in the army to help organise the cull.

 

Monday's official report is expected to say troops should have been brought in much sooner.

 

By the time the last recorded case of the outbreak is found in Little Asby, Cumbria, on 30 September, 6,094,139 animals have been slaughtered, and the disease has cost the country an estimated £2.4-£4.1bn.

 

 

 

[bob_barron 0]

I thought this would be about someone putting their foot in their mouth

[Guest Vitamin X]

Is this mostly a problem with just eating beef? If that's the case, why the big problem? Eat chicken, pork, or seafood, then. Christ.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Is this mostly a problem with just eating beef? If that's the case, why the big problem? Eat chicken, pork, or seafood, then. Christ.

 

The problem is that they don't wanna just cut out a major food staple like that. Simply not eating it should be a temporary solution, not a permanent one.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Well, that's what I mean. Stop eating it until it's safe to do so. There should be no crisis over this other than the cattle ranchers who are going to be losing money.

[Guest •]

Well, that's the big concern here, not the consumers.

[Vanhalen 0]

Look, its not as simple as that, you cannot move livestock and you have exclusion zones, last time vast swathes of the country were just cut off, for example for tourism, costing the country billions, they had to delay a general election for gods sakes, that should tell you how serious it was.

[EricMM 0]

I heard sixteen billion last time.

 

lawl, they said an American did it this time...

[Vanhalen 0]

Here we go, more cases confirmed

From bbc.co.uk/news

 

Up to 100 cows were culled at the farm in the 3km protection zone set up around the site of the first outbreak.

 

Meanwhile, Roger Pride, owner of the first herd to be culled, said in a statement he was shocked and devastated by the outbreak.

 

"It feels as if my whole world has been turned upside down," he said. The findings of a probe into the source of the outbreak at his farm are due later.

 

'Beyond our control'

 

In the statement read out at a National Farmers' Union press conference, Mr Pride said he first realised his cattle were off-colour and drooling last Thursday.

 

 

The theory that the sewer which overflows into part of the field where the 38 cattle were grazing could be the cause is an obvious possibility

Farmer Roger Pride, who lost his herd

By the following evening, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had confirmed they had tested positively for foot-and-mouth, he said.

 

He went on: "Whatever the cause of the outbreak, it is obvious that we've been the victims of circumstances far beyond our control."

 

He said it was possible a sewer which overflowed into part of the field may have been the cause.

 

No-one from the farm had had any contact with the Pirbright facility, which is being investigated as a possible source, he added.

 

'Absolutely devastated'

 

On Tuesday, a Defra spokesman said laboratory results showed foot-and-mouth at the second site, not far from the first infected location, Wolford farm, near Guildford.

 

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told BBC's Breakfast the speed with which the second outbreak was identified showed measures to control the disease were working.

 

He said vets first spotted signs of foot-and-mouth in the animals on the farm on Monday, and a swift decision was taken to cull them.

 

 

Most farmers are very, very scared and all activity on farms has almost come to a standstill

Farmer Laurence Matthews

 

He urged farmers to continue to examine their stock.

 

A 3km (1.8 mile) protection zone and a surveillance zone with a minimum radius of 10km (6.2 miles) is in place around the first site.

 

An announcement is expected later on how these zones may be affected by the second case.

 

The source of the second outbreak is unknown but virologist Professor Ian Jones said it was likely to have come from the original contamination source, not a secondary infection from Wolford farm.

 

Farmer Laurence Matthews, who owns the land where the second outbreak struck, said the farmer whose cattle were culled, and his family, were "absolutely devastated".

 

"We were starting to think that maybe this virus had been contained... now with this second outbreak this has set us back again," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

 

"Most farmers... are very, very scared and all activity on farms has almost come to a standstill."

 

He said the farmers' plight had been worsened by a lack of information, the failure to close all public footpaths in the protection zone and the inability to transport carcases from the farm to an incinerator because of a ban on movement.

 

Mr Benn said the issue of footpath closures would be investigated immediately.

 

A Defra spokesman said footpaths on contaminated premises had been closed off, but those within the protection zone were still open and as yet there were no plans to close them.

 

He added that people who lived within the protection zone were allowed to move in and out of the zone as long as they observed all the biosecurity measures.

 

NFU President Peter Kendall said the second outbreak was bad news but not completely unexpected.

 

He said efforts were under way to improve communication with farmers.

 

Flood theory

 

Meanwhile, the findings of the investigation into the cause of the first outbreak are also expected.

 

The Health and Safety Executive investigation centres on two neighbouring laboratories in the village of Pirbright - about four miles from Wolford farm.

 

The strain of the virus found on the farm was being used at both private vaccine manufacturer Merial and the government-funded Institute for Animal Health.

 

 

FOOT-AND-MOUTH IN NUMBERS

As a result of first outbreak, 97 cattle culled - 64 from infected premises, 33 from neighbouring premises. As a result of second outbreak, between 50-100 cattle culled

111,000 farms across UK affected by movement ban

That includes 10m cattle, 23m sheep and 5m pigs

 

Chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds has said it was possible recent floods may have contributed to an accidental release of the virus from one of the labs.

 

It is thought contaminated water may have been incorrectly disposed of down a drain which subsequently overflowed during heavy rain and carried the contaminated water on to farmland.

 

Ms Reynolds said no decision had been made on vaccines for livestock, but 300,000 doses had been ordered from Merial.

 

Mr Benn said: "In order to consider [vaccination] as an option, we've got to have the vaccine ready.

 

"It's the best place we can go if we take the decision that we want to do it."

 

Both Merial and the institute have denied any breach in biosecurity procedures, which are now being independently reviewed.

 

Ban formalised

 

The government has banned the movement of all livestock in England, Scotland and Wales, while the European Commission has formalised a ban on British exports of meat, milk products and live animals.

 

Northern Ireland, which has imposed a ban on all cattle, sheep and pigs from Britain, has been excluded.

 

Trading standards officers in Lincolnshire confirmed on Monday they were investigating two cases of alleged illegal movement of livestock.

 

The NFU has estimated the outbreak could cost "tens of millions of pounds", affecting not just farmers but related industries, such as abattoirs and meat packaging plants.

 

Defra has set up a helpline in response to the latest outbreak on 08459 335577.

 

The ban on the movement of cattle, pigs and sheep around Great Britain has also been taking its toll on workers in a variety of meat-related industries.

 

John Jones

John Jones stands among the empty pens at the Welshpool Livestock Auction

 

Many abattoirs, meat packaging plants and livestock markets have fallen silent. Country roads, devoid of trucks taking animals to the slaughterhouse or market, are also quieter than usual.

 

John Jones, of the Welshpool Livestock Auction, was not needed on Monday.

 

The weekly auction, on the Welsh border, is usually packed with sheep, meat buyers and farmers, but it was called off due to the foot-and-mouth disease scare in Surrey.

 

"Last week, we had 9,500 sheep," he said. "And today there was nil and it cost us between £15 - £20,000 in commission.

 

"But it's not just today's costs that are the problem. The three-month export ban will reduce the price of sheep and cattle substantially."

 

He said the auction would usually take place three or four times a week from September, when the sheep breeding season starts in full.

 

 

They will be praying the movement ban is removed as soon as possible

Richard Billinge

Meat Hygiene Service

 

"That's only a month away and it's vital we are back in business then or the loss will be extremely substantial for both ourselves and the farming community," he said.

 

"Back in 2001, we had to sell via a video system and we are not sure if we are going to have to do that again."

 

Richard Billinge, from the Meat Hygiene Service which oversees the work of Great Britain's abattoirs, said more than half of the 305 red meat slaughterhouses were closed on Monday.

 

A stock take showed that as of midday on Monday:

 

# 68 abattoirs were operating normally

# 75 do not open on Mondays

# 160 were closed because of a "lack of livestock"

# Two, within the 10km exclusion zone around the affected farm in Surrey, were also shut

 

"The only slaughtering allowed was of those animals already in the abattoirs," said Mr Billinge.

 

"The complete ban on the movement of animals means there will not be any for slaughter on Tuesday, so there will be a great deal less activity then.

 

"There's no doubt the abattoirs are rather concerned as they know there's livestock to be had but they cannot get it. They will be praying the movement ban is removed as soon as possible."

 

The Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) says the export ban will cost the British red meat industry an estimated £10 million per week.

 

'Captive sellers'

 

That figure includes lost revenue from both live animal and red meat sales, as well as the knock-on losses to related businesses such as abattoirs, packers, processors and transport firms.

 

Guy Attenborough, from the MLC, said the EU market accounted for 90% of British red meat and live animal exports.

 

He said: "Getting exports restarted following the all-clear will be a number one priority for the MLC."

 

Anthony Gibson from the National Farmers' Union said an export ban effectively made UK red meat producers "captive sellers" to the domestic market.

 

He appealed to retailers and abattoirs not to take advantage of the situation by lowering prices paid to UK producers.

 

"We hope movements of animals will resume in the next two to three days," he said. "If we get it right we want to be able to minimise the damage.

 

"If things go wrong and we do get further outbreaks, and people in the meat trade move to exploit the situation, we could be looking at costs running into tens of millions of pounds."

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

I thought this would be about someone putting their foot in their mouth

You could have phrased that to be funnier. I'm upset with you.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Why did something so horrible get such a funny name?

[bob_barron 0]

I thought this would be about someone putting their foot in their mouth

You could have phrased that to be funnier. I'm upset with you.

 

Damnit. Mods, close the thread please

[At Home 0]

I heard sixteen billion last time.

 

lawl, they said an American did it this time...

 

Bullshit, the British government is blaming the recent floods.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I bet those burn piles fucking reek.