Fears of new disease cluster

Crisis is far from over, say farmers

Farmers in Lancashire are concerned about a new foot-and-mouth hotspot which has emerged over the weekend, only 20 miles from a cluster in North Yorkshire.

Seven cases have been reported in the past week around the town of Clitheroe - near to the town of Settle where there are now 31 confirmed cases.

The National Farmers Union says the new outbreak is particularly worrying because there have been no cases in the area for five weeks.

There is also concern over two new cases in Cheshire, the first in the county for more than six weeks.

Click here for a map of the latest outbreaks.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, epidemiologist Professor Roy Anderson said the two new mini hot spots in Settle and Clitheroe had "probably" been triggered by the movement of farmers and their vehicles.

The spread of the disease has, inadvertently, been exacerbated by the nature of farming practices in the area

Maff officials

He said: "It seems probable, although not absolutely certain, that movement of farmers and vehicles and so on, have stimulated these two mini outbreaks and so the very important message there to the farming community is that buyer security in the tail of the epidemic is extremely important.

"I think this illustrates that we are not out of the woods yet and it is very important to maintain rigorous measures of control and restrictions of movement not only of animals but farm vehicles, through to the very end of this epidemic."

Foot-and-mouth facts

Total number of confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in the UK 1,664 - Three new cases on Tuesday

3,095,000 animals slaughtered

63,000 animals awaiting slaughter

21,000 carcasses awaiting disposal

The Vice-Chairman of Devon's National Farmers' Union, Thomas Binns, told the BBC the countryside around Clitheroe was very similar to the Settle area.

Movements of people, animals and vehicles have been blamed for the cluster of foot-and-mouth outbreaks around the North Yorkshire market town.

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) officials said 14 of the first 20 cases in the Settle area were linked by the movement of people or licensed movement of livestock.

All licensed movements in the area have now been stopped.

There have now been 31 confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth in the Settle cluster since 10 May, including two on Monday.

The number of daily outbreaks elsewhere in the country had been dropping.

Spread 'by accident'

In a joint statement, Maff's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor David King, and Chief Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore offered some explanation for the Settle outbreaks.

"The spread of the disease has, inadvertently, been exacerbated by the nature of farming practices in the area," they said.

The Settle and Clitheroe hotspots are quite close

"Many farms have parcels of land away from the home premises, including some fell and moorland.

"Consequently there have been many movements of people, vehicles and equipment, as well as some 350 licensed animal movements to carry out normal animal husbandry and working practices within the area."

The source of the Settle outbreak is believed to have been in sheep at a local farm but Maff is investigating how the infection entered the animals.

Officials say it is too early to determine the cause of the latest outbreaks in Cheshire, although no links have yet been established with other cases outside the county.

The disease was first confirmed on Sunday at Fir Tree Farm at Crowley, near Northwhich, and another case was found on Monday at Crowley Hall, High Legh, near Knutsford.

The developments are a serious setback, coming just days after the county council, on the advice of Maff, reopened 90% of Cheshire's 7,000 footpaths and rights of way.

A county council spokesman said: "This is an extremely bad day for Cheshire and brings back dark memories of 1967 when it was thought that the outbreak was over but only for this terrible disease to return about two months later.

"Footpaths within the three kilometres area of the two farms concerned have been closed."

A new case of foot-and-mouth disease was also confirmed in Devon on Monday, the first in the county for more than a week.

Back to top