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2007 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak
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An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom was confirmed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), on 3 August 2007, in the parish of Normandy, Surrey.
The outbreak was centred on a field being used for beef fattening rented by Derrick and Roger Pride.
previous confirmed epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom was in the spring and summer of 2001; it caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism.
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An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom was confirmed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), on 3 August 2007, in the parish of Normandy, Surrey.
The outbreak was centred on a field being used for beef fattening rented by Derrick and Roger Pride.
Background
The previous confirmed epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom was in the spring and summer of 2001; it caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. The epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms in most of the British countryside. There was foot-and-mouth disease scare during January 2007 in Northern Ireland but it is not thought to be related to the latest outbreak.
First outbreak
Symptoms were first reported late on 2 August 2007 on farmland located in Normandy in Surrey, which was subsequently isolated and placed under restrictions.
The following day the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Debby Reynolds confirmed that initial testing revealed that 60 cattle were infected with foot-and-mouth disease and
that other potential cases were being investigated.
On the 4 August the virus was identified as the FMDV BFS 1860 O1 1967 (Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus, British Field Strain 1860, serotype O, subtype 1, isolated in 1967; also referred to as strain BFS 1860/UK/67
), a virus isolated in the 1967 outbreak and until the 2007 outbreak, not in circulation in animals. It was the same strain as used at the nearby Pirbright laboratory site, which houses separate units of the Institute for Animal Health and Merial Animal Health Ltd at Pirbright, 2½ miles (4 km) away, which was identified as a possible source of infection, as it is one of only four European laboratories authorised to handle that strain of the virus to produce vaccines, the next nearest being in Belgium.
As a result the isolation zone was extended.
The laboratory carries out research into foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) as well as other diseases affecting livestock.
On 5 August another protection zone was created near Elstead after a cow at one of the two other locations used by the farm tested positive. The herd at both locations had already been slaughtered the previous day as a standard precautionary measure.
On 6 August another herd within one of the protection zones showing symptoms of FMD was slaughtered on suspicion. Samples underwent analysis and on 7 August FMD was confirmed on a farm in Surrey within the protection zone. The cows were on land owned by farmer Lawrence Matthews who rented grazing to a neighbouring producer.
On 7 August the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) issued a report - "Initial report on potential breaches to biosecurity at the Pirbright site, 2007"
which contained the following comments –
- "Subject to the ongoing work detailed above, the indications are that there is a strong probability that the FMDV strain involved in the farm outbreak originated from the IAH or the Merial sites."
- "We are further exploring the meteorological data, but at this stage, we consider there to be a negligible combined likelihood that there was an airborne release from the IAH or the Merial sites which was subsequently transferred to the first affected farm between the 14 and 25 July 2007."
- "Waterborne release onto the site remains a possibility. But preliminary investigations into the possibility of whether surface water from flooding from the site could have reached and contaminated the affected farm have indicated that this was negligible due to the distance, topography and direction of flow. These issues are being investigated further."
- "Release by human movement must also be considered a real possibility. Further investigation of the above issues is required and is being urgently pursued."
The Pirbright site has been the source of foot and mouth outbreaks before - in 1970 the virus escaped from the experimental area into a holding pen elsewhere on the site. 18 animals had to be destroyed.
On 9 August, a farmer who let the land at the site of the second outbreak reported some cows on his own farm to DEFRA as a precautionary measure. A 3 km Temporary Control Zone was established,
and then removed,
on August 11 when negative test results were returned.
Three further potential outbreaks were investigated during August, at a farm elsewhere in Surrey; at the Chessington World of Adventures zoo; and at a farm near Romney in Kent. All three tested negative for foot and mouth.
On 24 August, following a lack of further outbreaks since the initial discovery, Defra lifted the protection zones around the farms .
On 8 September the surveillance zone was removed. A 5 km radius Biosecurity Area remains in place around the Pirbright laboratories.
Second outbreak
On 12 September a new case of foot and mouth was found 30 miles from the original case at Milton Park Farm in Egham, Surrey. A 3 km radius Protection Zone and a 10 km radius Surveillance Zone have been established around the farm.
A sick sheep found earlier during the day in Scotland at a Lanarkshire market was later found to be negative.
Separately, a Temporary Control Zone was put around a premises in Norfolk as a precautionary measure following a veterinary visit. Laboratory results for these animals were also negative and so the local restrictions were lifted the next evening.
Precautions
All livestock at the 3 geographically separate locations were destroyed on 4 August. A nationwide ban on the movement of cattle and pigs has been imposed, with a 3 km (1.9 mile) protection zone currently in place around the affected farm and a further 10 km (6.2 mile) zone of cattle surveillance. An 8 km (5 mile) aerial exclusion zone has been set up around the site.
Reaction
International reaction
Following the confirmation of the outbreak, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have closed all of their ports to livestock, fresh meat and non-pasteurised milk imports, and have ordered disinfectant measures to be put in place at ports and airports all over the island. Additionally, Canada has blocked the entry of any livestock from the United Kingdom (including, for the moment, Northern Ireland) into the country, and Japan and the United States have blocked the entry of pigs and pig products. British beef is already banned in both of these countries.
Scientific reaction
On the prospect of the virus emanating from one of the Pirbright establishments, emeritus professor of bacteriology Hugh Pennington was quoted as saying, "If we know exactly where the virus has come from, and particularly if it's a vaccine type of virus, it's less likely to be a nasty virus."
Dr King, a former head of molecular biology at the IAH, was quoted in The Times as saying "As far as I am concerned the authorities have failed to find any chink in the armoury of the establishment’s bio-security. What you are left with is human movement, which is not a matter for the institute, it’s a police matter. It’s very, very unlikely that it could be spread by accident. People do not spread the disease easily."
Political reaction
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn returned to London early from their holidays, in a story broken by blind BBC News journalist Gary O'Donoghue. Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs Elin Jones cut short her holiday to New Zealand, and opposition leader David Cameron also cancelled his holiday in Brittany. A COBRA meeting took place shortly before the official announcement, with the Prime Minister participating on a telephone link.
Investigation
A report into the epidemic was released on September 5. It reported that traces of the virus were found in a pipe at the Pirbright institute running from Merial to the government's treatment plant. It is thought that tree roots damaged the pipe allowing the virus to the surface. The report hypothesises that site workmen conveyed the virus to the Normandy farm en-route home from work.
An independent investigation carried out by Professor Brian Spratt found that due to the recognition that infected material could survive the initial citric acid disinfection stage within the Merial plant, the effluent system up to the final caustic soda treatment plant was considered by Defra inspectors to be within the scope of Category 4 containment, yet it appeared not to have been subject to regular inspection and there was evidence of leakage both from broken pipework and via unsealed, overflowing manholes –
In May 2008, the authority responsible for prosecuting - Surrey County Council - decided not to prosecute -
Media Reporting
On 4 August two journalists, Philip Hollis & James Purkiss, were charged by Surrey Police under Section 27 of the Animal Health Act with ignoring prohibitions and entering protected sites.
Surrey Police Assistant Chief Constable Mark Rowley said "So far, two photographers have been arrested for breaching cordons, despite the obvious need to protect the area and clear signs prohibiting entry. No members of the public have tried to get inside contaminated areas and unfortunately the only attempted breaches have been by some of the media."
See also
- 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis
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