010448 Britain Says Foot-And-Mouth Under Control

London - Britain said it had brought its devastating eight-week-old foot- and-mouth epidemic “fully under control,” but government plans to kill off the disease through vaccination met resistance from farmers.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser said the number of fresh outbreaks was falling faster than expected and predicted they would continue to halve every two weeks.

“On the basis of the fall in the number of cases reported, the epidemic is now fully under control,” Professor David King told reporters.

The two-month epidemic has swept like wildfire through Britain's farming community, crippling agriculture and the lucrative tourism industry alike. It has even forced Blair to postpone his plans for parliamentary elections.

More than a million livestock have been slaughtered in a draconian effort to contain the highly infectious disease and the government has asked farmers to support a vaccination scheme to complement the cull.

Farmers' reaction has been mixed but many fear that vaccination could actually prolong the outbreak and say there would be no market for beef or milk from vaccinated animals.

Vaccinated animals cannot be distinguished from those incubating the disease and so some countries refuse to buy meat from countries that use vaccines against the disease.

“I have not been convinced of the relevance of the vaccine at this particular time,” National Farmers' Union leader Ben Gill said after meeting King on Thursday.

Vaccine Question “Unresolved”

Gill said that the cull was successful and that there were “many unresolved issues” to settle before a vaccine plan could be implemented.

“The policy is working. A vaccine isn't a simple solution.”

The government's push for the vaccine is a turnaround from last month when Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said mass vaccination was “a very unattractive option for our farmers and the country.”

King said there was a need for vaccination now as farmers prepared to move cattle from indoor winter quarters out into spring pastures, where they were more vulnerable to infection.

“The misunderstandings on both sides over the proposals for vaccination have been removed,” King said. “On the basis of that, I hope there will be movement from the farmers.”

Although officially banned by the European Union, EU vets have approved vaccination for parts of Britain and the Netherlands. Germany said it was putting on hold a decision on whether to allow the state of North-Rhine Westphalia to apply for EU-backed vaccinations.

The total number of infected sites has reached 1,396 in the United Kingdom. The disease has also spread to the Netherlands, which has reported 25 cases. France has confirmed two cases and Ireland one.

Latvia, which reported a suspected foot-and-mouth case on Wednesday, said on Thursday further tests had proven negative.

Downward Trend Expected To Continue

King said Britain was now reporting about 20 new daily cases of the disease, compared with around 40 a day two weeks ago. The downward trend was expected to continue, with the number of fresh outbreaks halving every fortnight.

He said he was able to declare the epidemic “under control” because its “reproductive rate” -- defined as the average number of secondary premises being infected as a result of infection at a single site -- had fallen to 0.7, well below the 1.0 benchmark which signals an uncontrollable spread.

But he said the rate of new outbreaks in Devon, in southwest England, remained a cause for concern.

King also warned against assuming there would be a “smooth ride downwards” as the epidemic tailed off. “It is in the nature of an epidemic that there will always be a bumpy ride,” he said.

The imminent release of cattle from their winter quarters was particularly likely to cause such a “bump,” he said.

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