3.45pm update

Dutch investigate foot and mouth outbreak

Staff and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday March 20 2001 16.04 GMT

The foot and mouth crisis spread further into Europe today as the Dutch agriculture ministry confirmed it is investigating four suspected cases of the disease in the Netherlands.

Preliminary results on four goats had shown signs of the highly contagious disease and more tests were being conducted, the ministry said. Final results should be available on Friday.

The ministry said the farm and three companies that had handled the animals were under observation, and the areas around them were closed for a six mile radius. About 300 head of cattle and four goats were to be destroyed tomorrow as a precautionary measure, said spokeswoman Martina de Ham.

The animals were from a farm near the eastern town of Oene in the province of Gelderland. Tests were being conducted on all livestock within two miles of the farm, the ministry said.

Yesterday the government lifted six day old restrictions on transporting cloven hoofed animals to slaughterhouses, except in a small area of Gelderland. The ministry said there was no immediate plan to reimpose the restrictions outside the quarantined area.

Dutch farmers already have destroyed thousands of cattle, sheep, goats and deer imported from Britain and France after the disease was discovered in those countries. Until today there had been no serious symptoms detected in the Netherlands.

The number of cases in Britain has risen to 368 since the outbreak began last month, but only six cases have been detected on the European continent, all on a cattle farm in north west France last week. The French government says the disease has been contained.

The Dutch were hard hit by international ban on buying livestock and meat products from Europe. Dutch farmers sold more than 9bn guilders (£2.6bn) worth of meat and animals in 1999.

What's going on?
Full list: outbreaks and precautionary measures
Causes and effects