The third case of foot and mouth disease has been confirmed in the UK.
Sheep on a farm in southern England tested positive for foot and mouth disease after being slaughtered on suspicion that they were infected, the British agricultural ministry said.
Cattle on the same farm were also slaughtered after they displayed signs of the disease, including lesions, with test results still to come, the ministry said.
The animals were on a farm inside the protection zone west of London set up last week when a new outbreak of the disease was discovered and hundreds of pigs and cattle were culled.
The pigs were not suspected of having contracted the disease at the farm, which is the fifth infected site in Britain over the past month and a half, a ministry spokeswoman said.
Two nearby sites were hit last week by foot and mouth. The first of those came less than 24 hours after EU veterinary experts agreed to declare Britain free of foot and mouth from Nov. 9 and lift an export ban – imposed after the disease was found on two farms in August.