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France Confirms Case of Foot-And-Mouth Disease
France on Tuesday announced its first case of foot-and-mouth disease, confirming suspicions that the highly contagious livestock disease had spread from Britain to continental Europe. Officials immediately set up a 1.5-mile security parameter, limiting access to the farm in the Mayenne region, and a further "surveillance parameter" of 6 miles, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.
Mainland Europe has been taking drastic steps in an attempt to prevent the disease from crossing the Channel from Britain, where the outbreak that was first discovered Feb. 19 has severely hurt the livestock industry.
The origin of the afflicted cows in France was not immediately clear. The ministry said they belonged to a farm that is near one that imported British sheep in February.
The ministry said tests had confirmed the cases in the cows from a herd of 114 cattle on the farm. All 114 cows were destroyed, it said, and their carcasses were to be incinerated on Tuesday.
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