Foot and Mouth Disease Reappears in Britain

EU keeps ban on British meat; 2001 outbreak cost $17B

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 12, 2007 1:08 PM CDT

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Foot and Mouth Disease Reappears in Britain — Police officers secure the area around a farm near Egham, southeast England , Wednesday Sept. 12, 2007. There has been a confirmed case of foot and mouth disease at the farm, where livestock are being kulled and a 10km protection zone is set up around the area, which is about 10km from a previous... (Associated Press)

A new case of foot and mouth disease has struck a cattle farm in England—a day after the EU had decided to lift its ban on British beef. The EU will keep the ban for now, Reuters reports, and the British government has sprung into action—quarantining the area, killing affected cattle, and banning movement of livestock throughout the UK.

Foot and mouth is an extremely contagious disease that spreads on the wind and has an incubation period of three weeks. Cases of the disease were found in July and August, and Britain has been attempting to declare itself foot-and-mouth-free. A 2001 outbreak is estimated to have cost the agriculture and tourism industries as much as $17B. (More Britain stories.)

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