‘Real possibility’ disease spread by human

THE source of the foot and mouth outbreak in England looks likely to have been the Pirbright laboratory facility adjacent to the first farm affected.

The British Health and Safety Executive said there was a “real possibility” the disease was spread by human movement, and the chances it was caused by flooding or aerial transmission were “negligible”.

But the executive’s investigations failed to pinpoint the source as either the private Merial Animal Health Ltd, part of the site near Guildford, Surrey, or as that of the Government-run diagnostic and research centre, the Institute for Animal Health.