Inspectors probing the suspected source of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Surrey hope to have the results of their inquiries in the next 36 hours.
Inspectors probing the suspected source of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Surrey hope to have the results of their inquiries in the next 36 hours.
The Health and Safety Executive is examining whether the Pirbright site could have been the source of the outbreak which was confirmed on Friday.
Two facilities at the Pirbright complex were using a strain of the virus for research and for vaccines.
It was the same strain found at an infected farm four miles away.
Biosecurity denial
The government has imposed a ban on the movement of all livestock in England, Scotland and Wales while the European Commission has banned live animal exports from the UK.
Inspectors are initially focusing their investigation into the outbreak on private pharmaceutical company Merial, which develops vaccines, as it had most recently used the strain.
Both it and the publicly funded Institute for Animal Health research facility, deny there has been a breach in biosecurity.
Merial's managing director David Biland said on Monday while the company had suspended vaccine production, staff would be attending work to assist investigators.
He added: "To date our investigations continue to show no breach in our procedures.
"However, it is still too early in this investigation for anyone to determine the cause of the outbreak."
Vigilance call
Professor Martin Shirley, director of the Institute for Animal Heath, where there has been limited use of the strain in the past month, said it had launched its own inquiry.
"We're looking at the functioning of the laboratory in the same way that our colleagues at Merial have also looked at their facility as well," he said.
"And it's exactly what I think you would expect for an institute running an complex laboratory to begin to assess the functioning of it over the past few weeks."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who will chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee on Monday morning, has asked for the results of the investigation to be available by Tuesday.
Mr Brown said the efforts were to "contain, control and then eradicate this disease".
He said the ban on the movement of cows, sheep and pigs would remain in place.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said around 120 cows in all had been culled in response to the outbreak.
Susceptible animals on a farm next to the affected premises had been slaughtered as a precaution because of "potentially dangerous contact".
Protection zone
Farmer Derrick Pride, whose cattle were at the centre of the outbreak, said: "It is nothing to do with us. It is not our fault. It is something beyond our control."
There have so far not been any further outbreaks, but Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has urged people to remain vigilant as the source has not been confirmed.
He said that the facilities at Pirbright were being redeveloped following a report made in 2002, as a result of the foot-and-mouth outbreak the previous year, which had criticisms of the institute.
Last year the institute expressed concerns about cuts to its funding in written evidence given to MPs.
It said it faced difficulties because its funding had been frozen, meaning three years of cuts in real terms.
The evidence also suggested the equipment in the labs where tests for foot-and-mouth were carried out was "in desperate need of investment".
The strain of the disease identified at Wolford farm, near Guildford, was also used in a batch of vaccine manufactured on 16 July by Merial.
Defra has increased the size of the protection and surveillance zones covering farms in the area to 10km.
The strain of foot-and-mouth identified is not one normally found in animals but is used in vaccine production and in diagnostic laboratories.
In a statement, Defra said: "The present indications are that this strain is a 01 BFS67-like virus, isolated in the 1967 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Great Britain."
A review of biosecurity measures at Pirbright will be led by Professor Brian Spratt of Imperial College London, who will report back to Mr Benn.
Northern Ireland has imposed a ban on all cattle, sheep and pigs from Britain, but there are currently no restrictions on the movement of livestock within NI and across the border.
Britain has also imposed a voluntary ban on exports of all animals and animal products.
The outbreak in 2001 led to between 6.5 million and 10 million animals being destroyed and cost as much as £8.5bn.
Defra has set up a helpline in response to the latest outbreak on 08459 335577.
Article first appeared on www.bbc.co.uk|