UK aims to calm virus disease fears

There are fears that burning carcasses may be releasing harmful chemicals

LONDON, England -- Health officials in the UK have urged the public not to panic over foot-and-mouth after receiving calls from people worried they have the disease.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair appealed for calm and repeated calls that there were no risks to the general public from the disease.

It follows the announcement that two more cases of suspected foot-and-mouth disease in humans are being investigated.

"It's important that there is a sense of perspective," the Downing Street spokesman told the Press Association.

"Where there are suspected cases, there are exceptional circumstances surrounding them. Even if these cases are confirmed, and none of them have been confirmed, the symptoms of the illness are not life-threatening. It amounts to a mild form of flu and it clears up on its own."

The latest suspected cases come a day after it emerged tests were being carried out on a slaughterman from north Cumbria suspected of contracting the disease.

Many callers to the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) were parents who had confused hand, foot and mouth disease with the entirely different epidemic sweeping the nation's farms.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is only found in humans and there are often outbreaks of it in the UK, particularly among children.

Dr Philip Mortimer, a consultant virologist at the Central Public Health Laboratory, said: "We have been getting a lot of calls and they obviously reflect public anxiety on this issue.

"What people need to understand is that hand, foot and mouth disease may have a similar name and similar symptoms but it is a completely separate illness from foot-and-mouth."

Officials would not say where the latest suspect cases were, or who could be affected, but said they were not in north Cumbria.

"There are a lot of symptoms that can seem similar to foot-and-mouth and the case yesterday has obviously raised concerns," he said.

The disease is extremely mild in humans, with people suffering flu-like symptoms and blisters on hands and in the mouth.

There are no recorded cases of human-to-human transmission of the disease and there has only been one previous case of human foot-and-mouth in the UK.

The two cases were revealed after it emerged that the Cumbrian slaughterman may have become infected when a rotting carcass he was carrying exploded in his face.

Results of tests are expected on Wednesday evening.

Blair's spokesman said: "My understanding is that (the slaughterman) was moving the decomposing carcass of a cow, when that carcass exploded, and the fluid went into his mouth.

"I only say this just to illustrate that should this be confirmed, how unusual are the circumstances regarding this individual possibly contracting foot-and-mouth.

"As we have said throughout, there is no health risk to the general population."

Cancer risk warning

When Monday's suspected case was revealed, the PHLS said it had been alerted to six previous suspected human cases of foot-and-mouth since the beginning of the outbreak -- but tests had proved negative each time.

The only confirmed human case of foot-and-mouth disease was diagnosed during the major UK outbreak of 1967.

Meanwhile, as the number of confirmed cases in animals in the UK hit 1,500, it has been announced that the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races have been cancelled.

The decision was taken after fears the expected 40,000 spectators would increase the risk of bringing the disease to the so far infection-free island.

The races, which were scheduled to take place from May 26 to June 8, have never before been cancelled during peacetime since they began in 1907.

As Britain continues with its policy of culling and burning hundreds of thousands of animals, toxicologists are warning that the burning of livestock poses a cancer risk to humans.

Bonfires had been considered one of the more efficient ways of disposing of the carcasses, but now there is mounting concern about the health risk from dioxins.

A government-funded report estimates that in six weeks, the fires released more than two-thirds of the dioxins produced by British industry in a year.

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Department of Health
UK Ministry of Agriculture
Foot-and-Mouth Disease

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