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arm infected with foot-and-mouth
Cattle at a farm in Surrey have been found to be infected with foot-and-mouth disease.

Animals on a farm near Guildford have tested positive for the disease which swept the UK and wreaked havoc in 2001.

A three-kilometre protection zone has been put in place around the premises and a UK-wide ban imposed on movement of all cattle and pigs.

In accordance with the legislation, all the cattle on the premises will be culled, said a government spokesman.

The farm has been under restrictions since late on Thursday when symptoms were reported.

Debby Reynolds, UK Chief Veterinary Officer, has confirmed the outbreak after samples were taken from the farm.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has taken part by telephone in a Cobra meeting, involving top staff at the Cabinet Office.

He is returning to London on Saturday from his holiday in Dorset and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn is to break off from his vacation in Italy.

As well as the three Kilometre protection zone, there is also a 10 kilometre surveillance zone where nearby animals are monitored.

National Farmers' Union President Peter Kendall said: "This is a matter of grave concern. We have an industry still depressed from low prices.

"We have to ensure this is a small isolated incident. We are working with the government to ensure the right steps are taken."

Quick action taken on foot-and-mouth: Brown

Updated Sat. Aug. 4 2007 1:33 PM ET

Associated Press

LONDON -- Britain banned the export of livestock products and halted the movement of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs across the country Saturday after foot-and-mouth disease was discovered on an English farm.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that authorities were doing "everything in our power" to track the source of the outbreak and wipe it out before it wreaked economic devastation.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, or DEFRA, said the ban on livestock exports applied to animals with cloven hooves such as cows, sheep and pigs. It covers the export of live animals, carcasses, meat and milk and is effective immediately.

Speaking at his London office, Brown said experts would work "night and day" to discover the origin of the outbreak on a farm in southern England as fast as possible.

"Our first priority has been to act quickly and decisively," said Brown, who cut short a summer holiday to deal with the crisis.

The United States and Japan immediately banned British pigs and pork products in reaction to the news. British beef is already banned in both countries because of mad-cow disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that it was barring all products derived from foot-and-mouth-susceptible species in Britain.

The European Union said its executive body, the European Commission, would meet Monday and confirm a ban on imports of British livestock and livestock products within the 27-nation bloc. Britain had earlier said it expected such a ban.

The outbreak is the first known case of the disease in Britain since 2001, when a foot-and-mouth epidemic started with a pig herd in northern England, spread to cows and sheep and eventually led to the slaughter of 7 million livestock, infected more than 2,000 farms and shut Britain out of the world's livestock export markets.

The government was accused of reacting too slowly, allowing the highly infectious disease to spread.

Many of the carcasses were burned on huge pyres and large swaths of countryside were declared off-limits to visitors, damaging tourism. British taxpayers shelled out more than US$2 billion for compensation, disinfecting, veterinarians and the slaughter.

The total cost to the country was estimated at $16 billion at current values.

In the latest outbreak, DEFRA said animals on the farm near Guildford, about 30 miles southwest of London, had tested positive for the disease, which does not affect humans. The department did not specify how many animals were infected, but said all animals on the farm would be slaughtered.

At the infected farm, veterinary workers in protective white coveralls rounded up cattle. Vehicles entering and leaving were sprayed with disinfectant.

Authorities imposed a two-mile radius protection zone and a surveillance zone of six miles around the farm. Scientists were carrying out tests to determine the strain of the disease, and whether vaccination would be possible to halt its spread.

The government's chief veterinarian, Debby Reynolds, said it was too early to say how the disease had gotten to Britain -- whether through the illegal movement of animals, by the wind or by accidental contamination -- and how far it might have spread.

"It's important not to rule out any possible source in our inquiries," Reynolds said. "The objective is to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease. It is a big blow for it to be back in U.K. territory."

She encouraged farmers to look for signs of illness in their livestock, and said there had been a "small number" of reports from other farms. None had so far proved to be foot-and-mouth.

The government had been criticized for not using vaccines in the 2001 epidemic. A report on the epidemic by a senior scientific body, the Royal Society, concluded that vaccination should be a major tool of first resort in the event of future outbreaks.

Farmers nearby were worried, but hopeful that quick action would contain the disease.

"We are keeping our fingers crossed but there is really nothing we can do about it except wait," said Michael More-Molyneux, whose farm is about five miles from the infected site.

"Farmers around the country will be hoping and praying that this is an isolated incident and that the disease is not already widespread, because last time when we found out about it, it was already everywhere," said Tim Bonner, spokesman for the Countryside Alliance. "We hope and pray that the lessons from last time have been learned."