Foot-and-mouth? Or something else altogether?

Is the answer blowing in the wind? Photo: Salina Christmas

For an (ex)journalist, I'm surprisingly moderate when it comes to conspiracy theories and hypotheses that are a bit out of the mainstream. I've come up with one or two in my time (anthrax killing Scottish heroin addicts a few years back springs to mind!) but only one or two. Well, three or four maybe. Tops.

If you number any journos among your social circle you will appreciate that this is a very modest number indeed, possibly because I'm also rather a skeptic by nature.

So, I am not going to expound at great length the thought that crossed my mind when I saw the location of the latest suspected case of foot-and-mouth in the UK - Romney Marsh on the far east coast.

I am simply going to share two things with you.

The first is a map. Roughly in the centre is Romney Marsh, to the left Pirbright, Surrey and to the right, well, Belgium, basically.

And the second is the fact that among the first clinical signs of both foot-and-mouth and bluetongue are "slobbering" and/or "excessive salivation".

Wonder which way the wind's blowing?

Plague, pestilence and floods - (well, foot and mouth and flooding, actually)

Pressing issue: The FMD outbreak puts IAH under media scrutiny Photo: Salina Christmas

We gossip a lot in my (former) profession. Especially when there's a big story breaking and if you're an agricultural or animal health journalist, a foot and mouth outbreak IS a big story. We'll talk to practically anyone in the hope of turning up an interesting angle or a nugget of information that the rest of the pack has missed.

So I'm surely not the only reporter who heard tales fromlocal barstaff about completely flooded cellars last Saturday, 28th July. That's just about the right point on the putative timeline to make one wonder whether there might be a connection with the escape of the foot-and-mouth virus into the local environment.

Given that I'm not a scientist and I have only modest knowledge of the Pirbright biosecurity set-up, I don't know if that's a viable hypothesis or not.

And not being a journalist any longer, it's not even my job to go and find out. (and believe me that stings at a time like this!) Instead, I've handed over my pet theory to Animal Pharm's new editor, Jamie Day.

Having to carry on with business plans and budgets at a time like this seems particularly unfair. I'm reduced to checking my own publication's website just to stay up to date!

Foot and Mouth? Foot in Mouth...

Shadowing every move: TV crew waiting for the latest development on the investigation into the outbreak Photo: Salina Christmas

You could argue that it's really rather sad that it takes an industry crisis to kickstart my blog again. Fair enough, actually. It is, frankly, a bit sad.

But that I suppose is in the nature of journalists. And as an ex-journalist, opportunities to put pen to paper (oh alright, fingers-to-keyboard-to-screen if you prefer) are getting thinner on the ground, so the blog comes into its own.

But I digress. (No change there, then.)

At the weekend, I was staying in a charming little place called Tilford Woods, not far from Flexford, as I have done for a couple of weekends just lately.

Flexford, as you may recall, is the site of the current outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK.

Being a classic news junkie, and a bit starved of excitement lately because of this promotion to publishing, a promptly hopped in the car and high-tailed it down to Flexford where I mingled with agricultural and mainstream journalists all doing that rather incestuous thing where, in the absence of anyone else to interview, we more or less interview each other...

"Pirbirght?" I exclaimed airily on Saturday morning.... "Don't be daft. I'd bet my next paycheck it didn't come from Pirbright." And then I held forth about their fantastic biosecurity and wonderfully professional staff for a good ten minutes.

Ho hum.

That's my professional credibility down the drain then.

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But you know, I still find it hard to believe. At the Institute for Animal Health and at Merial, the biosecurity measures are stringent and thorough. The staff are incredibly professional. At both facilities, everyone understands the consequences if a virus escapes. And it's in nobody's interest to alienate their own stakeholders.

From what I understand, it's clear now that there have been no obvious breaches of biosecurity. If I were responsible for the investigation from here onwards (and obviously I'm not), I would be asking myself not just "how could this happen?" but "why did this happen now?"

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