Sheep foot-and-mouth tests negative (From The Argus)

Sheep foot-and-mouth tests negative

1:51pm Tuesday 16th October 2007 in News

A temporary control zone around land in East Sussex has been lifted after tests for foot-and-mouth disease proved negative, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said today.

The 1.9-mile (3km) zone was put up around premises near Rye yesterday as a precautionary measure after vets found possible signs of the disease in sheep.

The control zone was lifted at 12.10pm following negative laboratory test results but Defra appealed to farmers to remain vigilant in checking animals and enforcing biosecurity measures.

Had it been confirmed, it would have been the first case of foot-and-mouth outside of Surrey since the summer.

The disease has been identified at eight farms in Surrey since August 3.

The outbreak's risk area covers Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex, according to Defra.

England's farming community is also reeling from bluetongue disease, although restrictions put in place to prevent its spread were eased yesterday despite the virus spreading to sheep.

Bluetongue, which has spread across the Continent during the past year, emerged in the UK last month when a cow on a farm near Ipswich, Suffolk, was found to have contracted it.

Since then, the virus has migrated into Essex, and more than 30 cattle herds have been affected.