Sheep tested in potential new foot-and-mouth case

British government vets were carrying out tests today after suspected foot-and-mouth disease was found in East Sussex, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.

A 1.8-mile (3km) temporary control zone has been put in place around premises near Rye as a precautionary measure after sheep showed possible signs of the disease.

A Defra spokesman said laboratory tests were under way to determine whether the disease has spread but there is no timetable for receiving the results.

He said: “Animal keepers are urged to remain vigilant for disease, check their animals twice a day and report any suspicions immediately.”

If confirmed, it would be the first confirmed 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 disease’s risk area covers Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex, according to Defray.

England’s farming community is also reeling from bluetongue disease, although restrictions put in place to prevent its spread were eased today 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.

Bluetongue has attacked cattle and sheep on the continent, and experts are not surprised at the spread of the virus in the UK.

Defray has imposed movement restrictions in the Eastern Counties in an attempt to limit the spread of the disease.

But those restrictions were due to be eased from midnight today allowing markets within the bluetongue control and protection zones which stretch from Lincolnshire to East Sussex.

In addition, movement to approved slaughterhouses outside the zones will be allowed.

After yesterday’s announcement that sheep had been found with the virus, a National Farmers’ Union spokesman said: “This isn’t good news but it’s not a surprise. Bluetongue is a disease which affects cattle and sheep so it’s not unexpected that it’s now been found in sheep.”

The virus is spread by infected midges and is not passed on from animal to animal.

Experts believe it was carried into England by midges blown across the sea from the European coast.

Animals display a variety of symptoms and are normally culled.