(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-12 18:50

LONDON - A suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease was found in Britain on Wednesday, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on its Web site.

The suspected case was found at a farm 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where an outbreak in August led to a mass slaughter of cattle stock, the agency said. A slaughter of cattle is under way at the site of the new suspected case.

Officials have set up a three-mile (five-kilometer) control zone, barring all animal movement around the affected area in Surrey, a county on the outskirts of London.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will chair an emergency meeting of senior officials, British media reported.

"This is not yet a confirmed outbreak but a suspected outbreak and they are slaughtering animals as a precautionary measure," said Michael Ellam, the prime minister's spokesman.

The August outbreak was centered near the government-funded Institute for Animal Health, a diagnostic laboratory, and Merial Animal Health, a British unit of the US-French pharmaceutical firm Merial Ltd.

The laboratory uses live viruses for research, and Merial uses them to produce vaccines. Investigators were unable to determine whether the virus originated in the government laboratory or at Merial's vaccine factory.