The timing was unfortunate, to say the least. On September 8th, five weeks after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at two farms in Surrey, Debby Reynolds, Britain's chief vet, announced that the country was once again free of the disease. But just three days later another cow was diagnosed with the same complaint. Four more cases have since been discovered, bringing the total this year to seven.rnAnother plague then struck. On September 22nd, a cow in Suffolk was said to have contracted Britain's first-ever case of bluetongue disease, a virus carried by midges that also affects sheep and other ruminants. A second case on the same farm was followed on September 25th by another 50 miles (80km) away on the east coast (see map on next page), and then by a fourth the next day.
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