Key questions about the foot and mouth outbreak

Key questions about foot and mouth - Telegraph

Extract:

"Are the Legionnaires' and foot and mouth outbreaks linked?

Only by the fact that both centre on the Government's Institute for Animal Health (IAH) at the Pirbright complex in Surrey and both investigations involve testing water samples that can harbour the conditions, thus raising questions about the site's drainage systems. The Legionnaires' investigation began in June and the victim had already recovered by the time the first case of foot and mouth was recorded.

How damaging is the Legionnaires' outbreak to Pirbright?

Very. The Government, which licenses and inspects the research site, has been forced to fend off severe criticism about conditions there and health and safety concerns are resurfacing. The Health and Safety Executive has already pointed to drainage systems at the private Merial laboratory - which shares the Pirbright complex - as being a possible cause for the foot and mouth outbreak. Further tests are ongoing. The Health Protection Agency also took water samples from the site, the results of which are not yet known, after they found small samples of the Legionella bacteria in the IAH building."