Foot-and-mouth started by 16 sheep

Sixteen sheep spread foot-and-mouth disease across Britain, the Government's chief vet said today.

Investigations into the origins of the epidemic in which almost six million animals died and 9,000 farms had their livestock eliminated showed that an initial case at a pig farm in Northumberland went unreported for several weeks, Jim Scudamore told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

During that period, the virus infected a handful of sheep farms. From these, six went to a dealer in Lancashire and 10 went through markets in Northumberland and Cumbria, probably infecting thousands of animals directly or indirectly. Waves of secondary and tertiary infection then spread across the country.

The work, to be published as a scientific paper, is likely to have a profound-effect on farming in Britain. In the long term, he told the committee, every sheep is likely to carry an electronic ear tag that will identify its origin and movements. There may be rules to slow down movement of animals, especially sheep, including a requirement that an animal moved to a farm must stay there for three weeks.

The disease may even see the end of the traditional livestock market. "The ideal is a situation in which animals are sold without mixing," he said. "The pig industry operates already without markets. People are experimenting with alternatives such as video auctions." Direct sales are also a possibility.

That in itself could have a huge knock-on effect on market towns throughout Britain.

Mr Scudamore was asked whether a culling policy that caused so much hardship could be called a success. He said: "What we have done is eliminate the virus." Speaking outside the meeting, he later said: "It has not been a success in terms of people, the rural economy and tourism."

He also revealed to the committee that in 20 per cent of cases confirmed from farms, laboratory tests came back negative. Some of these would have been false negatives, he said because the samples had not been taken properly or had been damaged in transit to the laboratory, but some would be real negatives.

He also said for the first time that vaccination might play a role in preventing a future outbreak.