New source of foot-and-mouth found in UK

7 Aug, 2007 08:49 / Updated 17 years ago

There is mounting concern the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK could be spreading. A second case of the virus has been found at a farm in Surrey near to the site of the first outbreak.

Investigations into the source of the disease are focusing on a nearby research lab and experts say recent flooding may have helped spread the virus. Meanwhile, British officials have begun slaughtering a second herd of cattle suspected of being infected with foot-and-mouth disease. About 120 cattle were culled on Saturday after the disease was found at a farm in southern England.  Russia and Ukraine are among the countries that have restricted imports of livestock and meat products from the UK. The ban will have little effect on Russian consumers or British producers as the amount of meat imported from the UK to Russia is minimal.  A previous ban on British beef was introduced in Russia during the BSE scare in the 1990s. All meat imports from the UK were stopped during the last foot-and-mouth outbreak there in 2001. The head of Russia's veterinary monitoring service, Nikolay Vlasov, says they are simply following legislation.  “In Russia like in the United Kingdom we have our national legislation. The Russian one prescribes to impose a ban in cases like this. So we were forced to do it,” he explained.