U.K. Isolates Infected Countryside

U.K. Isolates Infected Countryside

NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001

LONDON (UPI) – Britain wielded emergency powers Tuesday to cordon off entire rural communities in a bid to control the spread of foot-and-mouth disease after thousands of animals were incinerated in huge pyres.

Prime Minister Tony Blair held urgent talks with his ministerial aides after news media reported speculation in Parliament that a likely election in April could be put off.

A Downing Street spokesman refused to be drawn into the question. "The election date will be announced when it will be announced," the spokesman told United Press International.

Earlier in the day, local authorities were told to cordon off the countryside as five new cases of foot-and-mouth disease were reported in Britain, bringing to 17 the number of outbreaks that have led to the slaughter of thousands of animals.

Hundreds of agricultural businesses faced ruin as the disease continued to spread.

Even in London, restrictions were put in place. Richmond Park and other royal parks used by pedestrians and motorists were closed to all traffic to avoid the disease spreading to the parks' deer population, which has been nurtured over several hundred years.

The new powers restrict access to the countryside and suspend until further notice pursuit of many national pastimes, including country walks, train spotting, hunts and fishing, races of all sorts, country fairs, weekend breaks for city dwellers and pub crawls.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown defended the latest curbs, urging people to "take sensible precaution in the countryside and avoid unnecessary visits on farms and especially close proximity with livestock."

Britain banned movement of livestock Friday, and on Tuesday officials said the ban could last at least two more weeks. Industry sources said the ban could go on much longer, taking a heavy toll on British agriculture, already hit by previous outbreaks of swine fever and "mad cow" disease.

Britain's difficulties with restoring international confidence in its beef exports were compounded by a government ban on meat and dairy exports that industry analysts said would have a more destructive effect on the agriculture and livestock industry than the beef ban.

A previous outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in 1967 caused the loss of nearly half a million animals.

The spread of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in livestock led to the slaughter of more than 4.5 million cows in the late 1990s. Swine fever last year claimed more than 12,000 pigs and devastated exports of live pigs and pig semen.

Foot-and-mouth disease, characterized by blisters in the mouth and on the feet, is usually not fatal but causes severe weight loss among animals and a resulting loss of productivity. Humans are susceptible to it but usually survive the viral attack.

More than 80 people have died in Britain and several are seriously ill after eating BSE-infected beef and contracting its human form, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and its variant vCJD. Britain still bans cows that are more than 30 months old from entering the food chain.