As most of Europe fought to keep foot-and-mouth disease within the borders of Britain, cases of the highly infectious animal illness were detected in villages in central Turkey late on Friday, March 2.
It was not immediately known if the cases in Turkey were connected to the outbreak that erupted last week in Britain, or how many animals were infected. But Turkish agriculture officials, quoted by the Anatolia news agency, said a quarantine has been imposed on four villages in the Anatolian province of Konya.
The outbreak came as animals were being taken from Turkey's eastern regions — where raising livestock is the main source of income — to the urban west to be sacrificed during the Muslim feast of Eid Al-Adha.
After the first case was confirmed in Northern Ireland on Thursday, the neighboring Irish Republic found itself in the frontline of the battle to stave off the highly contagious "sub-type 0" Asian strain of the virus. Dublin went on a war footing.
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, calling the disease a "once-in-a-generation" threat to Ireland, dispatched more than 1,000 troops and police to border crossings from the north, and ports and airports, to guard against the disease spreading.
Russia slapped a blanket ban on all cattle and meat product imports from Britain, having already tightened control of meat imports from a number of other European counties through which British products may have transited.
In Vienna, the Austrian government advised its nationals not to travel to Britain "unless absolutely necessary," until the disease has been cleared up. Air travelers arriving from Britain were made to tread over disinfectant carpets at Vienna airport.
Norwegian deputies meanwhile demanded that NATO exercises involving British troops be cancelled as a precaution. "It is completely irresponsible for 300 British soldiers to arrive in an agricultural region where there are many farms in close proximity," said a deputy for the western Norwegian region of Soer-Troendelag, quoted by the NTB news agency. The British troops were set to be deployed on Monday for three weeks.
France began taking measures within its borders on Friday, banning its own livestock markets and fairs in case foot-and-mouth has already made its way into the country. The French agricultural ministry said it would be illegal to group pigs, cows, sheep or goats in markets, exhibitions or holding pens from March 6.
As the weekend approached, the crisis also hit sports events, with the cancellation of matches across Britain, including Saturday's rugby union Six Nations contest between Wales and Ireland. Most sports fixtures in Ireland were called off for the weekend to minimize the risk of spreading the disease, frequently carried on clothing, footwear and vehicles.
Portugal, whose northern city of Oporto is to host a league quarterfinal match with Liverpool early next week, warned some 5,000 British fans expected that their footwear would be disinfected on arrival.
The foot-and-mouth outbreak has become a particularly sensitive issue for Britain, where mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) originated in the 1990s. The BSE crisis, still a major and growing headache for the European Union although under control in Britain, has wreaked havoc on EU beef farmers, decimating markets and sending prices plummeting.
But BSE and foot-and-mouth are, medically, far apart. BSE can hit humans in the form of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a fatal, brain-wasting condition that has killed at least 85 people in Britain alone.
Foot-and-mouth is more a financial scourge than a health one. It spreads rapidly through herds of sheep, cattle, goats and pigs, but the animals lose weight, and hence meat, from its effects and are destroyed to protect production. Humans are not harmed by the illness but serve as effective carriers.
A European Commission spokesman said that no decision had been made for the mass vaccination of EU herds against foot-and-mouth disease, as London on Friday said at least 36 sites in the United Kingdom have now been confirmed.
"This would only be the worst case scenario," he said, adding that "so far scientists and veterinarians say that at this stage it's not necessary. Vaccination would only be the very, very last step to take." — (AFP, Brussels)
by Allen Nacheman
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
