The United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has confirmed a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) about 30 miles from the sites involved in an earlier outbreak.

So far DEFRA has said initial lab testing and clinical signs have confirmed evidence of the disease but not the strain of virus.

The outbreak of FMD occurred on a cattle farm in Surrey in southern England. DEFRA has established a 2-mile protection zone and a 6-mile surveillance zone around each of several parcels of land at the farm.

The herd was immediately culled. The government has placed a total ban on movements of cattle, sheep, pigs and other ruminants throughout England, Scotland and Wales. No movements will be permitted without a permit. Footpaths are closed within the protection zones.

In England, restrictions are in place on movement of animal carcasses, animal gatherings, shearing and dipping.

DEFRA has mandated that all farms increase levels of biosecurity. Within the designated zones, farms must also follow movement controls, restrictions on transportation of manure and treatment of animal products to ensure destruction of the FMD virus.

Discovery of this outbreak comes just four days after DEFRA lifted the last livestock restrictions from the Aug. 3 outbreak of FMD in Surrey. European Union officials had agreed to lift the ban on all exports effective Nov. 9, but those decisions have now been suspended.

Two inquiries have linked a leakage in a wastewater drainpipe at the Pirbright Laboratory site as the source of the FMD virus responsible for that earlier outbreak.

In response, the European Commission has announced that it will inspect 13 facilities authorized to hold samples of FMD virus in EU member countries.

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