Foot-and-mouth here for months
3 April 2001
Foot-and-mouth here for months
By FWi staff
ANOTHER national newspaper has published claims that foot-and-mouth disease went undetected for up to two months before it was discovered.
The latest allegation, reported on the front page of The Independent was made by David Owen, chief executive of the Farmers First export group.
It follows similar allegations published on this website on 16 March and subsequently by The Times later the same month.
Mr Owen claims in correspondence with the Ministry of Agriculture that foot-and-mouth antibodies were present in sheep exported to France on January 31.
If true, the allegation would mean that disease could now be endemic among Britains the sheep population and threaten cattle leaving winter quarters.
The animals did not come into contact with French sheep nor with livestock from the heavily-infected counties of Cumbria and Devon, Mr Owen claims.
This indicates that the animals must have been infected long before they were exported. Foot-and-mouth was not confirmed in Britain until February 21.
“Either the French results are wrong or they mixed with other sheep which had the disease before they left,” wrote Mr Owen.
It is possible for the disease to lie undetected for months as symptoms are not as pronounced in sheep as in other species.
Farmers are concerned that cattle being put out from winter quarters to graze run the risk of being exposed to the disease in sheep.
Thirty-three new cases of foot-and-mouth were reported on Monday (02 April). By 2000hrs the total number of UK cases stood at 943.
New outbreaks included a case on a city farm in Lawrence Weston, Bristol.
It is reported that new analysis by scientists at Imperial College London, could offer a lower prediction of the number of cases by June.
On 23 March, experts from Imperial College London estimated 70 new cases a day for at least the next fortnight.
On the same day, the Veterinary Laboratory Agency projected that Britain can expect 4411 cases of the disease by June.
Meanwhile, Conservative leader William Hague is to call for the Army to take over full operational control, claiming MAFF is “hopelessly overstretched “.
Tony Blair is due to visit Wales on Tuesday (3 April) where there has been strong resistance to the location of carcass disposal sites in “clean” areas.
Foot-and-mouth – confirmed outbreaks |
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