Egham FMD virus increasingly likely to match August outbreak strain

The foot and mouth virus which caused the new disease outbreak in Egham, Surrey, is increasingly likely to be the same strain identified in the August cases, DEFRA has revealed.

DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn said that initial sequencing was now complete and had shown the virus to be “type 01/BFS”.

It is therefore likely that this is the same strain as found in the August outbreak, a DEFRA spokesman said.
 
“We will not be able to confirm the full virus strain until all sequencing is completed. This is currently in progress,” the spokesman said.
 
“We do not have a timetable for when these final results will be received,” he added.