Foot-and-mouth virus 'hides' in sheep

Disease may lurk undetected in sheep for days

By BBC News Online environment correspondent Alex Kirby

Farmers are up in arms at the latest initiative by the UK Government to contain the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Some say they will refuse to allow the slaughter teams on to their farms; others hint they may drive their animals to safety in national parks.

There is talk of a legal challenge to the plan, which provides for the killing of up to 300,000 apparently healthy sheep and pigs.

But experts say there is a scientific case to be made for this wholesale slaughter, at least so far as sheep are concerned.

'Enormous carnage'

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) announced last week that in two of the worst-affected areas, south-west Scotland and Cumbria, all sheep and pigs on farms within two miles (three kilometres) of known outbreaks would themselves be slaughtered as a precaution.

Agriculture minister says the problem needs to be eliminated before it arises

The government's critics accuse it of unleashing "an enormous carnage" on "innocent" animals, of turning farms into killing fields.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, sums up what he is trying - on the advice of his chief veterinary officer, Jim Scudamore - to achieve: "We need to eliminate the problem before it emerges," he says.

There is evidence that the virus can lurk undetected, certainly among sheep, for days before anyone notices its presence.

Tracing the disease

The sheer size of many modern flocks makes detection harder. But it goes further than that. A veterinary surgeon who worked through the 1967 outbreak told BBC News Online why he supported Maff's policy.

"Foot-and-mouth can be pretty transitory in sheep," he said.

Some fat lambs will have been to four different markets before they reached the slaughterhouse - think what that did to spread the virus

Veterinary surgeon

"The lesions in the mouth clear up in a few days, and you may not notice the animals limping, because lameness is a common problem in sheep anyway.

"We now know that half of all the cases in this outbreak can be traced back to the markets at Longtown in Cumbria and Welshpool in Wales. It does look as if the sheep movements since the outbreak began have been wider and more complex than anyone imagined.

"And before movement restrictions were introduced, many animals were going from one market to another on their way to the abattoir, being sold on and sent further afield to wherever they'd fetch a better price.

"Some fat lambs will have been to four different markets before they reached the slaughterhouse - think what that did to spread the virus.

"It's a dirty great spider's web, and it's an obscenity in terms of the disease, let alone animal welfare."

'Bed-and-breakfast sheep'

The vet explained another way the virus is likely to have spread between flocks before movements were halted.

Government's critics say farms have become killing fields

"It's what's called bed-and-breakfast sheep," he said. "It's not illegal in itself, but it's done for illegal purposes, to enable farmers to claim subsidy payments they're not entitled to.

"Suppose you're entitled to a flock of 150 sheep, and you've sold some. You ring up a dealer and ask him to lend you some animals so that you can prove you have your full entitlement.

"When you've satisfied Maff your flock is up to strength, you send the sheep back, with whatever they may have picked up on the way."

A few days ago, the vet was saying that he would be encouraged if the number of new cases reported every day were down to single figures by now.

Brutal but logical

But the apparently inexorable spread of the virus has changed his mind.

"If we are down to single figures in a couple of weeks from now, then I'll be cautiously optimistic", he said.

I'm afraid that for every diseased sheep Maff has traced so far, there'll be three or four more animals it hasn't found

Veterinary surgeon

"I think you can say that the disease has spread, rather than that it is still spreading nationally, though there are certainly localities where it continues to move outwards.

"But I'm afraid that for every diseased sheep Maff has traced so far, there'll be three or four more animals it hasn't found."

Nick Brown's plan to head the virus off at the pass by killing hundreds of thousands of possibly healthy animals is brutal but logical, while slaughter remains the preferred option for ending the outbreak.

As things stand, even the optimists are losing hope.