Brussels, 20/08/2007 (Agence Europe) - Since the recent appearance of cases of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom, the Commission has taken a variety of initiatives to help contain the epidemic and improve methods for raising the alarm and inspections in Europe.
Following confirmation on 3 August of the presence of foot and mouth disease in cattle near Guildford in Surrey, the United Kingdom voluntarily proposed adopting all the measures included in Community legislation on foot and mouth disease) (systematic slaughter of animals in contaminated farms, protection zones and monitoring).
Given that other examples of infection had been detected in Surrey and Kent, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health unanimously voted on 8 August for a decision confirming the status of a “high risk zone” for the whole of the United Kingdom.
Since 7 August no other cases of the disease have been detected. A spokesperson for the British Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) explained, “Of the 70 'report cases we've had, all have been negative”. Strengthened by this result, the British authorities are optimistic about the lifting of restriction on the movement of cattle at the meeting with the European committee planned for this Thursday. Philip Todd, the spokesperson for DG Sanco, however, explained that there was no question of lifting the protection zones. According to Todd, protection and monitoring zones had to remain in place for 15 and 30 days. Nevertheless, he does envisage the possibility of the committee discussing the possibility of reducing the number of “high risk zones” throughout the whole of the country and parts of Northern Ireland so that some regions could become “low risk zones” and subsequently export their meat and milk products. Exports of live cattle, as well as any movement between the zones, will, nonetheless, remain banned.
A genetic analysis carried out by DEFRA demonstrated that this variation of the disease came from a laboratory located a few kilometres away from one of the farms where infection had been confirmed. Merial Animal Health (owned by the US Merck & Co and Sanofi-Avenis SA of France) was carrying out research into developing a vaccine against foot and moth disease. The laboratory has been sealed off while awaiting investigation.
The recent epizooty has also enabled a new MediSys internet monitoring system to be tried out. Developed by the Commission, this software gathers and sifts through information provided by more than a thousand news and public health internet sites in the Union. A quantitative analysis will allow for any a-typical or significant scenario to be detected, which can then be notified to the relevant decision-makers. In the case of foot and mouth disease, a sudden increase in cases of the disease was detected in the British press and was automatically forwarded by e-mail and SMS to senior public health officials throughout Europe (http: //medusa.jrc.it). (cd)