http://www.boston.com/dailynews/236/world/New_case_of_foot_and_mouth_fou:.shtml

New case of foot-and-mouth found in area that had been disease-free for nearly 3 months

By Associated Press, 8/24/2001 09:50

LONDON (AP) A new outbreak of foot-and-mouth was confirmed Friday in an area of northern England that had been free of the disease for almost three months.

The infection was discovered in cows on a farm 20 miles from Hexham in Northumberland, northeastern England. It was the first case in the region since June 3, government officials said.

''An intensive investigation is going on to establish how this outbreak has occurred well over two months after the last case in the northeast,'' said divisional veterinary manager Arthur Griffiths.

Close to 300 sheep and cattle on the infected farm were being slaughtered Friday, and animals on five neighboring properties would be slaughtered within the next 36 hours, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

Six months after the first cases of the contagious livestock ailment were confirmed in Britain, rural life has begun to return to normal. The first livestock market since the outbreak began was held Monday in Scotland's remote Orkney islands.

In all, 1,971 cases of foot-and-mouth have been reported since the disease was first found Feb. 20 among pigs at a slaughterhouse. The trickle of new infections is proving stubbornly hard to halt, with an average of two new cases being confirmed each day.

At the epidemic's height the average was 40 a day.

Almost 3.8 million sheep, cows and pigs have been slaughtered in a bid to contain the disease, which is harmless to humans but diminishes animals' productivity and ruins export markets.

-- Anonymous, August 24, 2001