Foot and mouth tests negative on fourth farm

LONDON (Reuters) - Foot and mouth tests on livestock on a fourth farm in southern England outside an initial containment zone have proved negative, the government said on Saturday, easing fears the disease had spread.

The farm is located some 12 miles (19 km) east of the main surveillance zone in Surrey where livestock on two farms have tested positive for the highly infectious virus.

Tests on a third farm within that initial surveillance zone proved negative.

"The results (on the fourth farm) were negative and the temporary control zone has been lifted," a spokesman for the farm and environment ministry, Defra, said.

As a result of the outbreak, more than 570 animals have been destroyed and the European Union and individual countries have banned British meat and dairy exports.

A severe outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001 forced the slaughter of six million animals and inflicted billions of dollars of losses on farmers and the tourism industry as much of the countryside was closed to visitors.

Britain's chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds told BBC Television that farmers must continue to exercise "relentless vigilance" despite signs the disease was being contained.

An interim report found it was very likely the source of the infection was the Pirbright research centre, close to the farm where cattle were first infected.

The site houses two foot and mouth laboratories -- one public and the other, Merial, owned by U.S. firm Merck and French firm Sanofi-Aventis.