UK probes research labs after disease outbreak

London: British authorities hunting the source of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease focused their investigation on Sunday on two research labs located several miles from where a herd of cattle was infected.

Although there was no confirmation that the research sites were the source of the infection, both high-security labs - one run by the government's Institute for Animal Health and the other by a pharmaceutical company called Merial - were sealed off and placed within a 10-km radius exclusion zone.

Both laboratories handle a variety of strains of foot and mouth, conducting research into the virus and developing vaccines against it, as well as against other animal diseases.

Attention focused on the labs as the possible source of the infection after Defra, Britain's department for agriculture, said the strain of foot and mouth confirmed in 60 head of cattle on Friday was not one recently found in animals, it was a strain of the virus isolated nearly 40 years ago by British biological researchers.

Britain's chief veterinarian, Debby Reynolds, ordered an "urgent review into biosecurity arrangements" at both sites, although Defra also emphasised that "all potential sources" of the virus were still being investigated.

The infected animals, found on a farm in Surrey, southwest of London, were isolated, culled and taken away for burial on Saturday. A nearby herd was also culled as a precaution.