A suspected new case of foot and mouth disease has been detected near London, near the site of last month's outbreak in Britain, the environment ministry says.
A three-kilometre temporary control zone has been placed around the site, near the towns of Egham and Staines, west of London.
The zone is approximately 50 kilometres from the August outbreak in the same county, Surrey.
It comes four days after Britain was officially declared free from foot and mouth.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who abandoned his summer holiday after four hours to deal with last month's outbreak, has been informed but has no plans to cut short a planned official visit to Leicester, central England.
Sky News television reports that Mr Brown is to chair a meeting of COBRA, Britain's emergency contingencies committee, in London tonight.
A spokeswoman for his Downing Street office says animals are being slaughtered in the affected area.
"The prime minister has no plans to cut the visit short," the spokeswoman said.
"This is not yet a confirmed outbreak but a suspected outbreak and they are slaughtering animals as a precautionary measure." © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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