Farm Disease in Britain Reaches Epidemic ScaleThe foot-and-mouth disease has officially spread to all parts of the United Kingdom, destroying hopes that some areas might have remained free from infection.The disease has hit Scotland and Northern Ireland, the BBC report says March 1. There are fears it could have crossed over to the Republic of Ireland although the Irish Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh has insisted that there are no known cases there. With the total confirmed cases of the highly-contagious disease at 32, officials expect more cases of foot-and-mouth. "At the moment we're looking at five or six a day and we might continue to see that number over the next week," said Chief Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore. But the government still believes that all the cases being discovered now can be traced back to livestock movements before the standstill imposed last Friday. The infection is believed to have spread to the farm in south Armagh in a consignment of sheep from a market near Carlisle in Cumbria. |
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