TIMELINE - Outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain

(Reuters) - A suspected case of foot and mouth disease has been found on a farm in southern England and the herd in question is to be culled, a government source said on Wednesday.

The return of the disease has raised fears of a repeat of a foot and mouth crisis in 2001 that devastated farming and cost Britain about 8.5 billion pounds.

Here is a chronology of key events since the disease was found last month:

August 3, 2007 - The agriculture department confirms finding the virus of foot and mouth disease in cattle on a farm near Guildford in Surrey.

August 4 - The United States, Ireland and Japan ban British meat imports. Britain tries to contain the outbreak by culling cattle at the farm.

August 5 - A research laboratory about 5 miles (8 km) from where a herd of cattle was infected is sealed off.

August 6 - The European Union, South Korea and Russia ban British livestock, meat and dairy exports.

August 7 - Veterinarians confirm a second case of the disease within a 6-mile (10-km) protection zone set up around the farm where the disease first broke out.

-- In a short preliminary report, government investigators find a "strong probability" that the strain of virus behind the outbreak came from two research labs near the site of the infection. It also says there was also a possibility that the release of the virus involved "human movement". The laboratories reject the report's suggestions the next day.