New Foot and Mouth outbreak was Pirbright strain

This is not actually a surprise but the latest foot and mouth outbreak is the same strain as used at Pribright which means one of two things:

• The virus survived longer in the wild than was thought likely
• Pirbright is still leaking the virus.

Not good news at all either way really. I suspect the Institute of Animal Health will come under heavy scrutiny.

The BBC has this.

Lanarkshire sheep tests OK, as foot and mouth may be in Norfolk as well

Well, the Lanarkshire sheep at the market has tested negative for foot and mouth but there is a suspected outbreak in Norfolk.

It has to be said that we should expect a lot of suspected outbreaks, with a bit of luck we won't actually get any more becoming confirmed ones.

The BBC has this.

Is there foot and mouth at a Scottish market?

The foot and mouth outbreak has now been confirmed.

However of more concern is the possibility that foot and mouth has spread to a market in Lanarkshire. With a bit of luck this will be a false alarm. If it is not then foot and mouth could have already spread far and wide.

On the plus side, local foot paths have already been closed and animal movement restrictions put in place. So at least the right things seem to be happening.

The BBC has this.

New Foot and Mouth Outbreak near Pirbright!

There have been reports of a new outbreak of foot an mouth, this time, some 15 miles from Pirbright and a it further away from the original outbreaks in early August.

DEFRA have ordered a precautionary cull of the herd affected and immediately put in place a control zone. Reports indicate a national ban on the movement of animals will follow shortly.

This is the worst news for farmers, and needless to say Pirbright will be high on the list of suspects.

My understanding is that Merial's operation there halted production of foot and mouth based vaccines when the last out break happened whilst the Institute of Animal Health carried on its work. As yet I have not heard that Merial have re commenced production. That leaves a suspect list of one, and may raise questions over budget cuts at the Institute.

The BBC has this.

Foot and Mouth report out and blames poor maintenance

The report into the foot and mouth outbreak is out and it blames poor maintenance on the pipes handling waste.

It should be noted that these are the responsibility of the Institute of Animal Health, not Merial.

Under funding is probably the cause because people knew the pipe was an issue.

So it's all Gordon Brown's fault!

The BBC has this.

Regrettably DEFRA have not emailed me a copy of both reports as promised. Hmm..

Foot and Mouth, It was a broken pipe says BBC!

And there I was working on the basis that DEFRA would get the report out to all media outlets at the same time.

It seems that the foot and mouth virus was found in a broken pipe which during flooding could have spread it above ground to be carried out on tyres. The virus itself should not have been live in the pipe which it is believed leads from the Merial laboratories initial chemical treatment plant to the Institute of Animal Health's secondary treatment plant.

Apparently though the BBC also learns that the tests to fully differentiate the versions of the strain between Merial and the Institute of Animal Health still has not finished. The cynic in me has to wonder why.

I await the full report with interest.

The BBC has this.

Is DEFRA sitting on the Foot and Mouth report?

One of the problems with dealing with government particularly when you are in an opposition party is that you get dreadfully cynical.

The Health and Safety Executive have completed their second report, which could well point the blame at either Merial Animal Health or the Institute for Animal Health, on Friday and handed it to the Department for Farming and Rural Affairs, (DEFRA).

They have not as yet published it. This sort of thing does tend to make me a little cynical. However they have promised to publish it by the end of the week with the "Sprat" report by Professor Sprat of Imperial College into bio security at Pirbright. That is not too long to wait so perhaps I should quieten my cynicism and just wait.

Foot and Mouth, Where is the updated HSE report?

Firstly I am pleased to see that the foot and mouth outbreak appears to be limited, I would not be surprised to hear of a few more scares, but would be shocked if there was another outbreak.

During the initial outbreak suspicion fell on the laboratories at Pirbright, there was a flurry of activity, an initial HSE report and spinning blaming it all on Merial.

Two things are relevant here. Firstly the HSE report clearly identified the strain as being from the Pirbright. The second is that the initial report promised further tests to say whether the sub strain was from the Animal Health Institute or Merial.

Where is it?

For more on foot and mouth, see here, and for the initial HSE report see here.

New Foot and Mouth outbreak, farmer adamant that it is not foot and mouth

I reported that there was a new foot and mouth scare last night outside of the security zones. This morning the farmer of that farm was on Radio 4's the Today program, and was adamant that his cattle did not have foot and mouth.

Apparently as a precaution he called in a vet, in part as he has fields close to one of the other farms. The vet looked at his cattle, and took advice from DEFRA which led to the closure but was certain that the cattle did not have foot and mouth. The measures are a precaution only.

Phew!

The BBC has this.

Oh, and the government has now, a week late, agreed to close foot paths in the protection zone. I just hope it is not too late.

Foot and Mouth: Has it spread to Dorking?

Just as everyone thought it was safe to go back to the country side there is news of a suspected case near Dorking (On the Westcott side).

I could of course spew hours of nonsense speculation but I won't.

What I will say is that whilst the animal movement ban was good, the lack of restrictions on footpaths was bad.

I also think that we may have let our guard down so soon.

I do hope it was not the deer that spread it.

The BBC has this.

Pirbirght, A legionaries outbreak?

According to reports there has been a case of legionaries disease linked to the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright. This outbreak predates the foot an mouth outbreak. Although the person who caught the disease does work at Pirbright initial investigations show no link there. Other sites that the person visited are being investigated.

It is probably nothing, as it does not seem to be linked to the Pirbright site, yet. However if it dies end up being linked there then there will be questions to answer.

The BBC has this.

Foot and Mouth: Are Merial spinning back?

There is now no doubt in my mind that there is a blame game going on, between the government and Merial Animal Health who share the Pirbright site with the Institute of Animal Health, a government laboratory who's budget has been cut whilst been criticised for potential lapses in bio security.

The bottom line appears to be this:

It is now almost certain that the outbreak came from the Pirbright site, so it is either the public or private body that leaked it.

There is a subtle difference between the virus stock in both organisations, and after a while we will know who leaked.

There is no need to preempt a short investigation, we can just wait a week surely?

However, as can been seen from this Telegraph report (to be fair mostly compiled from things I already knew) Merial are starting to gear up their operation to deal with the preemptive smears of the government and in particular Gordon Brown.

Foot and Mouth: The Gardener did it!

News reports are now centering on an allotment and its tenant as a possible source of the outbreak.

(presumably for What seems to be the thinking is that said gardener works at PirbrightMerial as it is they who are being spun into the frame) may have walked some from the Pirbright site and then onto his (or indeed hers) allotment from where it spread.

From reports I have mentioned before in the Sun, it appears there are stories about of people ignoring bio security rules so arguably this is possible. However I still find it unlikely.

What is more interesting though is that the Labour government which was so upset about spinning and leaks in the Cash for Honours/Peerages investigation is clearly leaking as much advanced information as it can get its hands on despite the fact that this investigation is presumably going to be short and the results should be out soon.

Hmm... So it is alright to leak ongoing reports of investigations if you are laying the blame on someone else but not when Labour are in the frame?

For more on foot and mouth see here.

Foot and Mouth: Its all Merial's fault!

I have read the Health and Safety Executive's interim report on the foot and mouth outbreak, and reported on it here. It is equivocal, because frankly we just do not at this stage know who is to blame, nor how it happened.

However, I note that all news broadcasts I have listened to from the BBC seem to be pointing in one direction and one direction only, namely Merial Animal Health.

This seems to me to be unnecessary pre conclusion spinning. I am aware that the odds are very much in favour of the Pirbright site being the start of the infection, however the investigation is very much ongoing. There is no need to say more, nor cast any blame, yet it seems the spinners are on the case.

It may well be that they are guilty as charged, but I would say two things:

• The jury is out.
• They will come out fighting.

What is more, if the initial spin turns out to be wrong, there will be trouble ahead.

HSE Pirbright report, initial findings

The Health and Safety Executives initial report is available here.

Firstly it says that the strain that caused the outbreak is the same as the one worked on at both Merial Animal Health and the Institute of Animal Health. What it fails to do, is to say which one was responsible. Further tests are being carried out to ascertain which one it was.

On potential airborne release, the report says:

• We found no evidence of any working practices or incidents such as laboratory spillages or leakages from plant or equipment which could have led to a release of the FMDV strain within the contained working environment at either organisation.
  We confirmed that all air being discharged to atmosphere from the contained working environments is first passed through a minimum of two high-efficiency particulate arrestance (HEPA) air filters.
• We confirmed that there is continuous monitoring of the pressures of the ventilation systems of the facility and that the HEPA filters are routinely integrity tested in line with regulatory requirements.
  

Well, that seems to fly in the face of what people at the site have been telling the Sun, here.

However the report initially doubts wind because it was in the wrong direction for most of the time frame. Further investigation is being carried out.

On waterborne release, the report is clear that this could not have happened in the animal isolation unit of the IoH, because they are in essence very happy with the effluent treatment plant.

The rest of the IoH and Merial share a system, which the HSE is unhappy with, however they doubt that the outbreak could have spread from the site to the farm because the flow of water was wrong.

So having ruled out all other possible causes they have only left human intervention, either accidental or deliberate, and reading one of the articles in the sun in my earlier post that is a possibility. They are investigating this angle as well.

In summary:

• It is highly likely that the outbreak started on the Pirbright site.
• We do not as yet know whether it was the IoH or Merial.
• We have indications it was not air or waterborne, but no firm answers.
• Humans are likely to get the blame.

So, we are not much further forward from what we knew already. However apparently the report may have been delayed while the political implications were considered (BBC Radio 4 reports). Hmm.. this has the makings of a good conspiracy theory.

Pirbright leaking like a sieve!

One of the interesting things about Pirbright right now, is not so much that it is physically leaking like a sieve, though according to previous reports it is not airtight, (See this here from the Sun and earlier foot an mouth posts for links to reports) but that its staff are leaking information to the press like a sieve.

According to this report in the Sun, lots of workers are telling them of all sorts of safety breaches that staff routinely get away with. If true this indicates a severe failure of management.

The journalists are out looking for a story, and you can bet they will find one.

Pirbright Leak, it wasn't me gov!

Somewhat unsurprisingly both laboratories on the Pirbright site are confident that they followed procedures and it was not their facilities that leaked foot and mouth. I am not surprised because these people are not stupid or careless. Whilst there is a link to the site, due to the strain of the virus, I would still be surprised if it came from there.

However if it did not come from there, then where did it come from? The strain is the same one that was responsible for the 1967 foot and mouth outbreak and as far as I know has not been seen in the wild since. Once you have excluded the impossible, what ever remains, however improbable must be the answer. It will be interesting to see what the Health and Safety Executive makes of it.

The newspapers are going heavy on the Pirbright link with this from the Telegraph here, the Guardian here and the Daily Mail, never wishing to over dramatise a story goes with the headline "Plume of foot and mouth virus casts 30-mile shadow of fear" presumably in an effort to comfort its readers.

The interesting thing about the Daily Mail story is that Iain Dale has posted a theory that foot and mouth could have been spread by wild deer, here, which would be of far greater concern, because if wild deer had the disease and were spreading it about, we would need to be hunting with mass packs of dogs to eradicate it, which has of course been made illegal by a bunch of lefty class warriors in the commons who don't like toffs on horses even if they are not toffs.

If it does turn out to be from Pirbright then how it hits the fan will depend on whether it was the government lab, which has had funding cut and was (and still is) in need of major refurbishment to keep it safe, or the nice private facilities on the same site. (For funding and refurbmishment issues see here and here)

Politically, it could get interesting.

Foot and Mouth outbreak linked to government laboratory at Pirbright

When I first heard suspicions earlier in the day that as Pirbright Institute for Animal Health was close by and thought to be connected I thought no. No way. These people know what they are doing. this is just a wild eyed conspiracy theory. Go see a shrink!

However the strain of the virus has been confirmed as the one used on the site. It does not normally occur in animals naturally. It is unclear whether the Institute of Animal Health actually uses it itself, or if it is just used by the private company on the same site, to manufacture a foot and mouth vaccine. Manufacturing has now been suspended.

I do not as yet have the name of the private company, but have to wonder if they donate to Labour?

The good news is that if the Pirbright site was the source of the outbreak then it may well be very limited. There is much work to do though. As an initial precautionary measure the exclusion zones have been extended so as to center on both sites. Now all animal movements from farms in the area need to be traced, where they cross other cattle movements they need to be traced as well and all monitored.

There is plenty of work ahead.

On another note, I was very disappointed to see that several TV channels turned up over the farms with large wind generating machines (helicopters) presumably to do some rubber necking. They may well have spread the disease further and an air exclusion zone was set up. This is deeply irresponsible behavior.

Incidentally if the Pirbright site turns out to be the source, and foot and mouth has already spread, then there will be hell to pay.

The BBC has this.

Iain Dale has this.

Update 5th of August 00:05

Having checked, the company that runs a facility on the Pirbright site is Merial Animal Health, which is jointly owned by Merck and -Sanofi-Aventis.

There is no connection (that I can find) between these companies and any political party.

Foot and mouth outbreak. It is about to get worse

I have been trying to follow the news on the foot and mouth outbreak to find out what sort of farm the out break happened on.

It seems it is a beef fattening farm. this is not good news. It is the sort of business where cattle come and go on a regular basis. It does explain how the farm could have got the disease, and that is by movements of cattle to the farm.

The net result is that there may well be another farm out there with foot and mouth, and worse still, it could have sold cattle all over the country as well as having cross infecting cattle at market.

With a bit of luck though, it won't get that bad. The right actions appear to have been taken in the early stages. now what we need is the paper trail followed up, through to the markets from which this farms cattle came from, and all the farms that have been in contact with those animals.

It will be a lot of work.

Foot and Mouth: government over reacts whilst it does not do enough!

One of the interesting things about government is that there is always someone to say you should have done it another way.

According to reports there has been an outbreak of foot and mouth on a farm in Surrey.

The government has reacted by banning the movement of any cattle except those on its licensing scheme.

Whilst I have not looked in detail at the licensing scheme, this seems the right thing to do at this stage.

Gordon Brown and Hilary Benn have both canceled their holidays, which whilst politically a good move is a bot of an over reaction and very harsh on their families. I do not know the ages of Hilary's children, but Gordon's are young and these times are important.

However, this is either one hell of an over reaction, or it is a bit late. In the case of foot and mouth there probably is not much middle ground.

The outbreak is on a farm with 60 cows. With a bit of luck, it is a small dairy heard, which means that there is not much movement of animals to or from it. If that is the case, then come the end of next week, the "crisis" will be over. However if the farm has traded cattle a lot, then firstly it could have got the infection from somewhere else, and it is spreading elsewhere, or, it still could be spreading elsewhere.

Obviously DEFRA will be looking to see how this farm got foot and mouth as it is not native to this country. It came from somewhere. The same overseas source could well have infected several farms. We just don't know, though there is this story of fear from the Guardian in 2003, about bio terrorists and foot and mouth.

What needs to happen now is that the movement restrictions need to be kept in place. If the out break spreads then the army needs to be called in, sooner rather than later, even though we know they are over stretched. Mass culling needs to happen with infected cattle as soon as possible.

One thing is clear, that the government needs to act swiftly, and be prepared to do the unthinkable. (Vaccinate for example).