UK readies foot and mouth vaccine

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has made preparations to vaccinate livestock as part of a contingency plan to halt the spread of foot and mouth disease, but is not ordering vaccination yet, the chief veterinary officer said on Friday.

Debby Reynolds also said that studies had shown it was "very likely" that the Pirbright research laboratory site near the infected farms was the source of the infection.

The risk the disease could spread from the southern English county of Surrey was "low but not negligible", she told a news conference.

Test results were under way on cattle at a farm outside the original surveillance zone where a suspected case of foot and mouth was discovered, but they were not yet ready, she said.