Lab likely source of UK foot-and-mouth By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer

Lab likely source of UK foot-and-mouth By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer
54 minutes ago



LONDON - Hopes rose Sunday that a potentially disastrous foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain could be contained, as scientists grew increasingly suspicious that the disease came from a high-security laboratory near the infected farm.

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The agriculture department said late Saturday that the strain of foot-and-mouth disease found on a farm in southern England was identical to one used at a research laboratory a few miles away shared by the government's Institute for Animal Health and a private pharmaceutical company, Merial Animal Health.

The department said the strain had not recently been seen in live animals.

"This is a promising lead — but we do not know for sure," Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday.

Cattle on a farm outside Wanborough, about 30 miles southwest of London, tested positive for the disease, which affects cloven-hoofed animals including cows, sheep, pigs and goats. It does not affect humans.

The agriculture department said there had been no movements of livestock from the affected farm since July 10, raising hopes the virus might not have spread further.

Benn said reports of symptoms at four more premises had been investigated and found not to be foot-and-mouth.

The highly infectious disease, which devastated the rural economy when it spread across Britain in 2001, can be transmitted though contact between animals, or on the wind.

Officials said they had begun an urgent review of biosecurity at the Institute for Animal Health's Pirbright Laboratory.

"The proximity of this farm to Pirbright was too much of a coincidence," Andrew Biggs of the British Cattle Veterinary Association told the BBC. "We know where it comes from now, but there are still chances of it spreading. ... I don't think we can let our guard down."

The government-funded Pirbright laboratory, which researches the disease and tests foot-and-mouth samples, is about four miles from the affected farm.

The government's chief veterinarian, Debby Reynolds, ordered a new six-mile protection zone to be set up around the farm and the lab.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, or DEFRA, said the strain was used in a vaccine batch manufactured last month by a pharmaceutical company which shares the laboratory site. The company, Merial Animal Health — the British arm of Duluth, Ga.-based Merial Ltd. — said it was suspending manufacture of the vaccine as a precaution.

Martin Shirley, director of the Institute for Animal Health, said the strain had been in "limited use" within the institute's own laboratory in the last four weeks. He said an investigation had found no breaches of biosecurity procedures.

Britain banned exports of livestock, meat and milk and halted the movement of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs nationwide in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

The U.S. and Japan immediately banned British pigs and pork products in response to the outbreak. British beef is already banned in both countries because of mad cow disease.

The European Union was also likely to announce a ban on British livestock imports in the 27-nation bloc when its executive body meets on Monday.