A modern battle of Britain, waged on the farm front

Associated Press
Published Friday, February 23, 2001

LONDON -- Brandishing bright-yellow tape to cordon off farms and slaughterhouses that could harbor foot-and-mouth disease, veterinary inspectors set out into the English countryside Thursday, searching for new cases of the highly contagious livestock ailment.

Working frantically to contain Britain's first outbreak of the disease in two decades, agricultural officials said the next week would be crucial. One new case was found Thursday, three days after the sickness surfaced, and authorities briefly quarantined a second slaughterhouse over a suspected case that proved negative.

The struggle to stem the disease -- which rarely sickens humans, although they can spread it through contact with animals -- took on almost the feel of a national emergency. The government urged city-dwellers to avoid strolls in the countryside. Rural letter-carriers were told to go only as far as farm gates.

Hunting groups agreed to call off the chase for at least a week. And zoos considered steps to protect susceptible animals like elephants, rhinos and camels.

The story dominated tabloid headlines and TV bulletins. Grainy old news footage was aired, showing smoke rising from huge piles of burning animal corpses during a 1967 epidemic that forced the slaughter of nearly half a million cows, pigs and sheep. A smaller outbreak occurred in 1981.

Although Britain voluntarily suspended exports of live animals, meat and dairy products, the United States, Russia and the European Union also imposed import restrictions.

Germany's agriculture minister, Renate Kuenast, ordered checks on all livestock imported from Britain in the last three weeks, France planned to check farms for animals imported in the last 30 days, and Dutch inspectors checked transit points where animals from Britain had passed.

The foot-and-mouth outbreak is a fresh hardship for British farmers, who are still feeling from last summer's outbreak of swine fever and the mad cow crisis.

Prime Minister Tony Blair called the outbreak ''the very last thing'' farmers needed. He said a compensation package would be considered to ease their expected financial hardship.

The alarm over foot-and-mouth disease was first raised Monday, when 27 infected pigs were found at a slaughterhouse in Essex county, northwest of London. Authorities set up a 10-mile exclusion zone around the slaughterhouse and cordoned off five farms.

A third case of the disease in cattle was confirmed Thursday on one of the quarantined Essex farms.

Containing an outbreak is extremely difficult because the virus is so easily spread.

It can be airborne, or tracked from one place to another on boots and clothing, or pass from one animal to another, or be transmitted when livestock consume contaminated milk or meat -- for example, a pig or a goat eating someone's discarded sandwich.

Farmers were urged to fill troughs with disinfectant at the entrances to their land, make visitors clean their boots carefully and keep their dogs away from livestock.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said the export ban was costing $12 million a week.

''If this gets a grip and we are unable to control it, the figure will be much larger than that,'' he said.

Economic ripples were already spreading. A slaughterhouse in Wales that caters to the export market told its 60 workers to stay home. Livestock traders said prices had fallen by about one-quarter.

Foot-and-mouth disease affects cloven-footed animals, including sheep, goats and cows. It is not usually fatal in itself, but wholesale slaughter in affected areas is considered the only means of stopping its spread.

Transmission to humans is extremely rare, but possible if a person is in close contact with an infected animal, the Food Standards Agency said. Humans cannot catch the disease by eating meat or drinking pasteurized milk.

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