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Biosecurity 101: Pirbright’s Lessons in Laboratory Security

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2007

T. Hugh Pennington
T. Hugh Pennington
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen, Medical School, Polwarth Building, Aberdeen AB25 2ZDUK E-mail: t.h.pennington@abdn.ac.uk
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Extract

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) ceased to be endemic—continually present—in Britain in 1889. It is reasonable to suppose that all subsequent outbreaks have had the importation of virus as their starting point. So when on 3 August this year two cases were confirmed in cattle on a farm in Surrey the origin of the virus was an immediate question. Surrey is commuter belt country. Its farms are small. They are dotted between medium-sized towns and large villages and so are not the loci of the kinds of intensive agriculture thought to be particularly at risk from exotic and imported animal diseases. But a potential source was close by, at Pirbright, only about 6 kilometres from the farm.

Type
Commentary
Information
BioSocieties , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 449 - 453
Copyright
Copyright © London School of Economics and Political Science 2007

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References

Anderson, I. (2002). Foot and mouth disease 2001: Lessons to be learned inquiry. London: Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Health and Safety Executive (2007) Final report on potential breaches of biosecurity at the Pirbright site 2007. London: HSE. URL (accessed October 2007). www.hse.gov.uk/news/archive/07aug/finalreport.pdfGoogle Scholar
Spratt, B. (2007). Independent review of the safety of UK facilities handling foot and mouth disease. London: Defra. URL (accessed October 2007): www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/fmd/investigations/pdf/spratt_final.pdfGoogle Scholar
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