Second Infected Farm Discovered In Britain

Following up with the story I blogged about yesterday, there has been a second confirmed case of foot and mouth disease uncovered on a British cattle farm. When the first farm was discovered to have a disease, the government immediately set up a two mile quarantine zone around that farm in which all other animals were to be watched carefully for signs of the disease. These actions led to the discovery of the second infected farm, which was inside this zone. The fact that this second discovery was made lowers the probability that the first case was an isolated incident dramatically, increasing fears that there might be a full blown outbreak very soon. As the government was heavily criticized in 2001 for not acting quickly enough to stem the spread of foot and mouth disease, they are doing everything as quickly as they can now, and taking no risks in doing so. All infected cattle and cattle that had been in contact with them have been eradicated, and additional quarantine zones created. The EU has also put a hold on any imports of meat, dairy, or animals from the UK until further notice.

The fact that a second case of the disease was discovered is very troubling because of the incredible contagiousness of this disease. History, and especially the 2001 case, has shown that once the disease starts to spread, it can be damn near impossible to stop it except by the eradication of all possible carriers, which resulted last time in the death of over 3 and a half million animals in Britain. If it had just been one contained case, I wouldn't be worried, but the fact that there is a second confirmed case already (only one day later!) shows that the disease is on the move. While I still hold out to hope that these might be isolated incidents, I believe that if there are any more discovered in the next few days my hopes will be completely gone. This disease is dangerous and travells faster than most people imagine. Britain could be facing a serious crisis within the next few days