Britain:British farming, still reeling from the latest outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, was facing another crisis yesterday after a potentially devastating virus was discovered in a cow in the UK for the first time.
The first case of bluetongue disease was confirmed in a Highland cow on Baylham House Rare Breeds farm, near Ipswich, on Saturday. The animal, named Debbie, had been tested for foot- and-mouth last week before being diagnosed with bluetongue. It was culled yesterday and its carcass removed from the farm.
Officials from Britain's department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) were last night testing midges and farm animals on the site, but said the case would not be classed as an outbreak unless the virus was found in insects or further infected animals.
The discovery of the virus was a fresh setback for Britain's livestock farmers, who have been hit by the discovery of the more serious foot-and-mouth disease at several sites in the past two months. Defra also said it had set up a new temporary control zone for foot-and-mouth around a premises in Hampshire, southern England, while laboratory tests were carried out. It said the 3km zone was a precautionary measure "following a veterinary assessment of clinical signs".
A spokeswoman for the department emphasised that there had not been a clampdown on livestock movement in the area.
Prime minister Gordon Brown chaired a meeting of his government's Cobra emergencies committee on Saturday to discuss the situation before going to Bournemouth for the Labour Party conference. The discovery of bluetongue came after another case of foot-and-mouth was confirmed in the control zone in Surrey over the weekend. Cattle were slaughtered on the sixth premises to test positive since the disease was discovered in August.
Bluetongue, which does not affect humans, is a disease of ruminants, including sheep, cattle, deer and goats. It can cause high mortality rates in sheep and reduce milk yield in cattle. The virus, which is spread through livestock by midges, has been sweeping across Europe in recent years. It was found in northern Europe last autumn, with areas such as the Netherlands and Germany affected for the first time. There have been nearly 3,000 cases across northern Europe since July.
Peter Kendall, president of Britain's National Farmers' Union, said: "I'm optimistic this can be quite an isolated localised case and going into winter these midges aren't as active as they would have been if this had happened two or three months ago."
The EU has warned that bluetongue can cause "spectacular disease outbreaks".
- (Guardian service)
• Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan described the incidence of bluetongue as "a serious development".
But she said the disease had been detected only in one animal and that further investigations were being carried out. She said Irish ports and airports were currently closed to livestock imports from Britain and from affected parts of northern Europe.