London - Government officials said yesterday they had found Britain's first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 20 years. Health officials said they had ordered eight-kilometre animal exclusion zones around an abattoir in Brentwood, south-east England, and two farms that supplied it after 27 pigs at the abattoir were found to have symptoms.
A ban on transporting pigs, sheep, goats and cattle in the area will remain pending an investigation. The most recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Britain was in 1981. The last major outbreak was in 1967, leading to the slaughter of 442,000 animals, costing £150 million.