Of the foot-and-mouth cases confirmed in the UK up to midweek, more than 50 have been linked, via other outbreaks, back to the likely source at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Tyne and Wear. This has been confirmed in an exhaustive trace-back of cases in the UK.
Of those in the process of being traced, almost all are putatively linked with other cases. As of Wednesday, method of transmission has been identified in nine cases: five were lorryborne, two wind-borne/aerial, one common grazing and one borne by a human.
The director of Pirbright Laboratories, the world reference laboratory for foot-and-mouth, has said animal-to-animal contact seemed the main source of infection.
"It would certainly look as though the vast majority of outbreaks that have been confirmed appear to have some link through the movement of animals, vehicles or humans," Prof Chris Bostock said.
The British Ministry of Agriculture's chief veterinary officer, Mr Jim Scudamore, has said he was confident the outbreak was not out of control despite its continued spread. Every confirmed case has to be traced back to the original outbreak, if possible.
"As it is, we believe we are containing the disease to the known contacts before we stopped all farm animal movements on February 23rd. When the two-week incubation period for the disease ends, we expect the number of outbreaks to start to fall." The main threat in the Republic came from the movement of animals and animal products, Mr Paschal Gibbons, president of Veterinary Ireland, said.
"As regards risk assessment, cancelling concerts and closing golf clubs were at the other end of the spectrum," he said.
Dr Patrick Wall, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, said risk reduction strategies needed to be prioritised.
The top priority was ensuring farms "became fortresses. The movement of animals and vehicles must be restricted to a minimum. Disinfection should not be a piece of straw thrown down as token choreography. The disinfectant must make contact with the virus for it to be effective. This means hosing down tyres to get rid of organic material before disinfecting."
Up-to-the-minute news of the foot-and-mouth crisis is available on The Irish Times website ireland.com at www.ireland.com/special/foot-and-mouth
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