Vaccine manufacturer Merial reported finding a leak in their Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine production system at their Pirbright facility in the UK.
According to reports, Merial officials detected a "shortfall" in the production of an FMD live virus on November 19th. A company investigation led to the finding of a leaking valve which may have allowed live FMD virus to enter a contained drainage system. The waste water was then pumped to a final chemical treatment facility located on the site without having been heat treated. Officials halted production and used citric acid to kill any virus that may have escaped.
The leak was reported to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) at approximately 4:00pm local time on November 20th and the government suspended Merial’s license to use FMD and Bluetongue viruses to produce vaccine. Inspectors visited the plant on November 22nd. Government officials assured local farmers that the leak had been confined to the facility and had not escaped into the countryside.
Coincidentally, Defra lifted the FMD Restricted Zone following no findings of additional cases. New FMD export zones were also established based on the recent EU Commission Decision on exports of meat from FMD susceptible animals. A map outlining the current FMD export zones is available on the Defra website.
Source:
Defra website