A NEW outbreak of the potentially fatal disease, bluetongue, has been found in the UK,The disease, which can kill animals such as cows and sheep, was identified in 18 cattle on premises near Bishop Auckland, County Durham which had been imported to the UK from a bluetongue restriction zone in Germany.

A NEW outbreak of the potentially fatal disease, bluetongue, has been found in the UK,

The disease, which can kill animals such as cows and sheep, was identified in 18 cattle on premises near Bishop Auckland, County Durham which had been imported to the UK from a bluetongue restriction zone in Germany.

Defra said the disease was picked up during post-import testing carried out on all susceptible animals arriving from the Continent.

Last month the disease was found in two rams, in Lewes, East Sussex, and Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, which had been imported from France where the disease has re-emerged this summer.

Bluetongue was also identified in eight cattle imported from Germany to a farm in Tiverton, Devon.

The first outbreak in the UK hit the country late last summer in Suffolk, at the same time as the farming industry was battling foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey.