Swine Fever inquiry launched
9:59pm Friday, 13th April 2001
The Ministry of Agriculture says a suspected case of swine fever is under
investigation at a pig fattening unit.

The site in Ardleigh, near Colchester, Essex, has been sealed off and
officials have slapped on movement restrictions, a spokeswoman said.

Government vets have sent samples to a laboratory and expect to have the
results back within nine days.

If the tests prove positive for classical swine fever, all animals at the
unit will be slaughtered.

The plant is not one of those affected by the foot-and-mouth epidemic, the
MAFF spokeswoman added.

"We normally get up to 12 suspected cases of classical swine fever in any
one year and they all end up negative," she said.

More than 36,000 pigs were slaughtered after an outbreak of the infectious
disease last August, the first in Britain for 14 years.

(c) Copyright Ananova Ltd 2001, all rights reserved.


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