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Fresh crisis for U.K. farmers as new virus strikes

— PHOTO: AP

A cow grazes at a rare breeds farm in Baylham in Suffolk where another animal has been found with bluetongue disease on Sunday.

London: British farming, still reeling from the latest outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, is facing another crisis after a potentially devastating virus was discovered in a cow in the U.K. 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 had been tested for foot and mouth last week before being diagnosed with bluetongue. It was culled on Sunday and its carcass removed from the farm.

Officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs were testing midges and farm animals on the site, but said that the case would not be classed as an outbreak unless the virus was found in insects or further infected animals. A spokeswoman for the department said she did not know when the test results would be available, but emphasised that there had not been a clampdown on livestock movement in the area.

The chief veterinary officer, Debby Reynolds, said: “It remains vitally important that farmers maintain vigilance for this disease and report any suspect cases, particularly as clinical signs may be similar to foot and mouth disease.” Prime Minister Gordon Brown chaired a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergencies committee on Saturday to discuss the situation before going to Bournemouth for the Labour 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.

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. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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