Foot-and-mouth disease spreads to Middle East

11.40 am

BRUSSELS/CHICAGO - The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that has rocked Europe has spread to the Middle East, as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates report finding 10 cases.

The cases were the first found in the Gulf states, which import most of their meat. UAE Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Saeed al-Ragabani said eight imported cows were found to have the disease, and the official Saudi Press Agency said two calves had been diagnosed with the highly contagious disease in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. It was not yet clear where the imported cows had originated.

Countries around the world stepped up efforts to stay free of the disease on Wednesday, banning meat and grain imports from the European Union and increasing checks on travellers from Europe.

The United States was one of a string of countries from Canada to Australia to halt imports of EU meat, and US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said her government would take every precaution to keep the disease out of the United States, which has not had a case since 1929.

New Zealand banned food and animal imports from Europe yesterday following confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease in France. The trade block means air passengers from mainland Europe will be vetted in the same manner as people arriving from the UK since last month's outbreak. The same checks permanently apply to arrivals from Asia, where the disease is endemic.

Britain is the epicentre of the latest outbreak of the disease, which attacks livestock including cattle, sheep, pigs and goats. France announced its first case since 1981 on two days ago.

Within the EU, German police began guarding normally unmanned border crossings with France. Police checked everything from British soccer fans to frozen veal schnitzels. In Britain, tens of thousands of carcasses are being burned on giant pyres and much of the countryside is effectively a no-go zone.

World governments' response to the foot-and-mouth outbreak took on aspects of a trade war today, as EU Food Safety Commissioner David Byrne criticised countries that had taken "unnecessary and excessive" measures.

"If necessary we will make full use of our bilateral contacts and our WTO (World Trade Organisation) arrangements to have these restrictions lifted," Byrne told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The European Commission today urged four countries -- Morocco, Hungary, Slovakia and Tunisia -- to end what it called unjustified bans on imports of EU grain imposed over fears of the spread of foot-and-mouth.

Foot-and-mouth is a virulent disease in which fever is followed by the development of blisters, chiefly in the mouth or on the feet. It is not believed to readily affect humans.

Argentina, the world's No. 5 beef exporter, said yesterday it had confirmed the existence of a foot-and-mouth outbreak, its first case since 1994.

The US government took steps today to prevent foot-and-mouth from entering the United States. The government adopted strict new measures, including disinfecting some European travellers' shoes, to protect American livestock from the disease.

Extra US health inspectors, foot-sniffing dogs and close questioning of airline passengers returning from the European countryside were among the tools being used by the US Agriculture Department to prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease that has thrown Europe into a panic.

Canada's agriculture minister has appealed to livestock farmers to stop people who have visited countries hit by foot-and-mouth from visiting their farms. Canada banned meat imports from the EU and from Argentina, where the disease was also found, yesterday. Canada has been free of the disease since 1952.

Sweden's agriculture minister said outbreaks of foot-and-mouth and mad cow disease could turn into budget-wrecking national catastrophes, while the director-general of the World Health Organization the costs involved in combating food scares were rising sharply.

- REUTERS

Herald Online feature: Foot-and-mouth disaster

UK outbreak map

World organisation for animal health

UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

The European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Pig Health/Foot and Mouth feature

Virus databases online