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Third Incident of foot-and-mouth discovered
UK - A third case of foot-and-mouth disease was identified by government vets yesterday.News of the case, which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has not yet confirmed, coincides with today’s official EU inspection of the Government’s handling of the outbreak.
The Times has learnt that the results of tests on cattle culled last Friday showed that they were infected. They were owned by Robert Lawrence on a plot of land near Chertsey. It was cattle kept by him at Milton Park Farm, near Egham, Surrey, that triggered the resurgence of the disease last week. Results are awaited on 24 pigs kept at a smallholding next to Stroude Farm, Virginia Water, where the disease was confirmed in cattle on Friday. The pigs were slaughtered amid fears that they could be infected.
Vaccination teams are on standby at an aerodrome near Guildford, but are unlikely to be called on today. The government contingency plan makes clear that vaccination must be considered on day five of an outbreak, which falls today. But without a dramatic rise in cases and no evidence of any leap in the virus from outside the surveillance zone, Debby Reynolds, the chief vet, is unlikely to recommend vaccination, although the possibility will remain under review.
The European delegation, from the Food and Veterinary Office, is due to arrive in London today to monitor the Government’s efforts to control the disease. It is also to inspect bio-security at the Pirbright Scientific Research Centre, where the virus escaped from a broken drainpipe.
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