Dutch fail to contain spread of foot-and-mouth
Foot-and-mouth has spread outside a sealed-off contamination area in Holland for the first time.
The announcement is a serious setback to attempts to contain the disease inside a 80 sq mile area in the eastern part of the country, where 20 other cases have been discovered.
The new case was confirmed at a farm in Friesland, more than 88 miles from the centre of the contamination zone.
The Dutch Government ordered the slaughter of all 4,000 cattle and sheep in a 2,000 yard radius of the infected northern farm.
Ministry spokesman Benno Bruggink said it was unclear how the disease spread so far from the contamination area, where no movement of animals or their products has been allowed since the first Dutch case was discovered on March 21.
The foot-and-mouth virus can spread through human contact and even be transported on the wind.
The Dutch have undertaken to clear the affected eastern area of all 115,000 animals, first vaccinating them to stop the spread of the disease until authorities have time to destroy them and incinerate the carcasses.
The Netherlands has suffered the worst outbreak on the European continent of the disease since the epidemic first struck Britain in February.
