UK on foot-and-mouth alert
Updated on 04 August 2007
Quick and decisive action is what's needed to stop an outbreak becoming an epidemic. So far that seems to have been the Government's approach.
Cattle, sheep and pig movements stopped across Britain and testing underway. The chief vet tells us other suspected outbreaks are being examined but some have already been ruled out.
But as biosecurity measures are tightened everywhere, the Pirbright centre investigating the outbreak is also being reviewed as a possible source of it.
Has the Government really learned the lessons of 2001? And is vaccination any more likely an option now, than it was then?
Regardless of whether it spreads, the impact on the countryside and farming is already immense - and with exports banned again will have far-reaching economic consequences.
Gordon Brown, who cut short his summer holiday to Dorset to lead the Government's emergency response, has promised the authorities are doing everything they can to ensure the foot-and- mouth outbreak doesn't turn into a repeat of the 2001 epidemic.
A 3km protection zone has been put in place close to the village of Wanborough, near Guildford in Surrey, where 60 cattle at a farm were found to be infected.
And there's also a 10km surveillance zone where animals are monitored.
The last outbreak was detected in pigs at Cheale meat abattoir in Essex on February 19, 2001. What followed was a succession of delays, of miscommunication, of ministers dithering.
The disease spread with frightening speed. By the time it had been brought under control 30 counties had been hit, it had cost the country £8 billion and 7 million cattle and sheep had been slaughtered - a long, dark shadow cast across the land.
The subsequent inquiry by Professor Iain Anderson was damning. Contingency planning was inadequate, the report said. There was no priority to slaughter infected animals, and it took three days to halt the movement of livestock around the country. Only Scotland was praised for better planning.
And the report criticised the Government for failing to call in the army to the worst affected areas until a month after the outbreak.
There was also the question of vaccination. Critics said the wholesale slaughter could have been avoided but for Tony Blair bowing to pressure from farmers who refused to do this.
Defra helpline number
Defra has called on farmers to examine animals, and report anything immediately to the Animal Health agency. Anyone concerned should call Defra's helpline on 08459 335 577.
The report said the option of vaccination must form part of the strategy if the outbreak is too big.
So far it would seem lessons have been learned. But the warning was clear today - hit now and hit hard if it has any chance of being contained.
