Foot and mouth lab failure causes outbreak
Pastor Dale Morgan
Foot and mouth lab failure causes outbreak*
By Andrew Alderson, Richard Gray and Patrick Hennessy, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 2:02am BST 05/08/2007
A biosecurity failure at a research laboratory has been pinpointed as
the likeliest source of Britain's foot and mouth outbreak.
An inquiry by scientists is centring on fears that the virus escaped
from the Pirbright laboratory site in Surrey, the only centre licensed
to work with the foot and mouth virus. It is feared that the virus,
carried on the wind, infected cattle grazing in a field three miles away.
Pirbright laboratory site, foot and mouth lab failure causes outbreak
Merial has been developing a foot and mouth vaccine at the laboratory
site it shares with the Institute for Animal Health
A private pharmaceuticals company, Merial Animal Health, which has been
developing a foot and mouth vaccine, shares the Pirbright site with the
government-funded Institute for Animal Health, which holds 5,000 strains
of the virus. Officials have not ruled out the possibility that such a
release of the virus was deliberate. Both centres, however, pride
themselves on their tight security record.
Last night, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra) confirmed that the strain found on the infected farm was not one
that would normally infect animals. A spokesman said the strain was
similar to a virus known as 01 BFS67, which was isolated in the 1967
foot and mouth outbreak.
The department said the strain was present at the institute and had been
used in a vaccines batch made last month by Merial. The company, which
is jointly owned by drugs giants Merck and Sanofi-Aventis, had agreed to
halt production on a "precautionary basis", Defra said.
The strain is thought to be relatively mild - less virulent than the
pan-Asian strain that swept the country in 2001.
The Health and Safety Executive is leading an investigation at the
institute and a protection zone was set up around both the farm and the
institute. A separate independent review into "biosecurity arrangements"
at the institute was also being launched, to report to Hilary Benn, the
Environment Secretary.
David Biland, Merial's managing director, was flying back to Britain
last night from a family holiday. In a statement released by the
company, Mr Biland said: "Merial will co-operate fully with the UK
Government to determine the source of the disease and will fully support
Defra scientists in bringing this outbreak to a speedy and satisfactory
-conclusion."
The outbreak, Britain's first for six years, threatens havoc to the
countryside and to the nation's tourist industry. The 2001 outbreak led
to the slaughter of nearly seven million animals and cost the country
£8.5 billion.
Defra was investigating other possible outbreaks of the disease, Debby
Reynolds, the Chief Veterinary Officer, disclosed last night.
"It's important not to rule out any possible source. One of the first
things I did was I asked Pirbright to review biosecurity," she said.
The Government insisted yesterday that it had learnt lessons from the
2001 outbreak and was determined to act "quickly and decisively". But
there were already accusations that Defra's handling of the crisis was
flawed. Farmers and trading standards officials, who must enforce any
ban on animal movements, claimed that they had not been properly
informed on the implementation of restrictions.
Defra announced a voluntary worldwide ban on exports of animals and
animal products. It applies to "cloven-hooved" animals, notably cattle,
sheep and pigs. The European Commission said it was enforcing a
compulsory ban on live animal exports from Britain, as well as meat and
dairy products from the area affected by the outbreak.
It is estimated that a three-month ban on lamb and beef exports alone
would cost Britain more than £70 million.
The effects of the new crisis are already being felt up and down the
country. Agricultural shows in Northumberland and Cumbria have been
cancelled, while there will be no livestock at shows in Norfolk,
Shropshire and Lancashire.
In Bedfordshire, Woburn Abbey's deer park and safari park were shut
yesterday, while Whipsnade Zoo closed its drive-through section. The
strain of the disease infecting the Surrey farm is thought to be a
relatively mild version, less virulent than the pan-Asian strain that
swept the country in 2001.
The Government has imp-osed a 1.9-mile (three-kilometre) "protection
zone" following confirmation on Friday of infection at the farm in
Elstead, near Guildford, and a 6.2-mile (10-kilometre) "surveillance
zone". A nationwide ban on the movement of all cattle, sheep and pigs is
in force.
More than 60 cattle belonging to Roger Pride, a farmer and butcher, were
slaughtered and taken away for incineration. The animals were being
fattened for organic beef.
Animals in fields surrounding the affected farm may now be vaccinated
against the disease under a policy introduced after 2001. Production of
the vaccine cannot begin until the strain has been identified.
Gordon Brown, who broke off his holiday in Dorset to take charge of the
crisis, said the authorities were doing "everything in our power" to
contain the disease. The Prime Minister, who chaired a second meeting of
Cobra, the Government's emergency committee, said yesterday he hoped
investigators would identify the source of the disease "with hours and
days".
Mr Brown spoke to David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, who also
broke off his holiday.
More than 5,000 strains of infectious foot and mouth are held in a
reference "library" by the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright and
samples from all over the globe are sent there for analysis. It provides
confirmation of outbreaks for the United Nations.
Merial UK is a pharmaceuticals company jointly owned by drugs giants
Merck and -Sanofi-Aventis and, at Pirbright, it researches vaccines
against foot and mouth. It has been attempting to create harmless
versions of the virus that can be used in vaccines.
The Pirbright facility, which has about 100 members of staff, is a
high-security site, holding samples of the most dangerous animal
diseases known, including swine fever, sheep pox and bluetongue.
Professor Hugh Pennington, an expert on infectious diseases, said it
would be "extremely concerning" if Pirbright were the source of the
outbreak. He said: "If there has been some kind of escape then we will
have to look very carefully at how we keep viruses locked up."
Dr John Anderson, the acting head of the institute, said there was no
suggestion that the latest outbreak had been caused by an accidental
virus release from his laboratories.