UK FMD Update

August 22, 2007 — 

The Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) situation in Great Britain appears to continue to be under control. There have been no new outbreaks detected and the government is beginning to lift certain movement restrictions.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has eased restrictions on the movement of horses into, out of, or within a Protection Zone. They will also begin allowing the movement of cattle and sheep direct to slaughter and movements of susceptible animals between premises under the same occupation in a Restricted Zone, subject to complying with specific conditions, starting tomorrow.

Licensing protocols have also been established to allow for a number of other movements of susceptible animals, meat, carcasses, etc. associated with established control zones. A list of these requirements can be found on DEFRA's FMD webpage.

There has been no further information released regarding the source of the FMD virus which is presumed to have originated from the site housing a Merial vaccine facility and the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright.

According to an article in this week's Pork Alert from Pork magazine, USDA Secretary Mike Johanns is bringing back a USDA Advisory Committee on Foreign Animal and Poultry Diseases for a two-year period. Among its tasks, the committee will advise USDA on program operations and ways to suppress, control or eradicate an outbreak of "destructive" foreign animal or poultry diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease. It's a protection effort to keep such diseases out of the United States, and a response plan in the event that one enters U.S. borders. This action follows the United Kingdom's recent FMD outbreak.