News in Britain that more humans may have been infected with foot-and-mouth sparked fresh health worries and dealt a blow to the campaign to woo back nervous tourists.
Health officials were investigating two more suspected cases of human infection - 24 hours after a slaughterman became the first suspected victim of the disease in 34 years. Test results are not expected before next week.
The slaughterman, who had been working in the north of England, was moving a decomposing carcass of a cow that exploded and the fluid went into his mouth, British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair's spokesman said.
A spokesman for the government's Public Health Laboratory Services would not say where the two new suspected cases were or whether they were people who had been working with infected animals.
The few cases there have been in humans have been a relatively mild flu-like illness with some ulcerations in the mouth and on the hands.
The patients have recovered quite quickly after a few days with no lasting ill effects, PHLS official Mr Brian Duerden said.