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Foot-and-mouth crisis spreads
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THE devastating scale of Britain's foot-and-mouth outbreak, fuelled by modern farming methods and transport, is surpassing the last epidemic of 33 years ago.
Although the outbreak was first reported three weeks ago at an abattoir in Essex, southern England, it had clearly been incubating before then.
By Wednesday it had reached 214 different farms, abattoirs and other sites across Britain and a case was confirmed for the first time in mainland Europe, at a farm in western France.
Yet British agriculture ministry officials think they can all be traced to one source -- a farm near the village of Heddon-on-the-Wall in Northumberland, northern England.
UK hit heavily
The fact it has since spread so far, forcing the mass slaughter in Britain of 180,000 animals, shows why this outbreak is surpassing the 1967/68 crisis, which lasted more than six months.
The government's chief veterinary officer, Jim Scudamore, said on Tuesday that a total of 430,000 animals on 2,300 farms were culled in 1967/1968.
"In just over three weeks we have had to deal with 170,000 animals" on 333 premises, he added -- a figure that is rising by the hour.
Instead of being able to bury small herds or flocks, as happened then, the dead animals this time have to be burned or rendered, which is more expensive and time consuming.
This time, Scudamore said, the country is effectively divided into three -- areas of high infection, an area of "middle England" with some isolated outbreaks, and clean areas.
"It is a very serious situation. We do not know where it will emerge and we do not know how much of it there is," Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said.
US alert
The US Government on Wednesday began disinfecting some European travellers' shoes, luggage and clothing to protect American livestock from the foot-and-mouth disease.
Extra US health inspectors, foot-sniffing dogs and close questioning of airline passengers returning from the European countryside were among the tools being used by the US Agriculture Department to prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease that has thrown Europe into a panic.
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said the United States would use ``every means'' to keep foot-and-mouth at bay.
``If this were to spread to the United States ... the losses would reach into billions of dollars quickly,'' said Alfonso Torres, deputy administrator of the US Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
On Tuesday, the government banned some US$400 million in annual imports of raw meat products and live animals from the European Union after the virus jumped from Britain into France. Canada, Australia and other nations immediately followed suit.
Middle East scared
The scare over foot-and-mouth disease that has rocked Europe spread to the Middle East on Wednesday, as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates reported finding 10 cases.
Eight cows imported into the UAE were found to have the disease, the daily al-Khaleej reported. The UAE cases were ''limited and contained", according to UAE Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Saeed al-Ragabani. He added that it was not yet clear where the imported cows had originated.
The official Saudi Press Agency said two calves had been diagnosed with the highly contagious disease in neighboring Saudi Arabia. The cases were the first to be found in the Gulf states, which import most of their meat.
Countries around the world stepped up efforts to stay free of the disease on Wednesday, banning meat and grain imports from the European Union and increasing checks on travellers from Europe.(SD-Agencies)
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