A total of 12,000 pigs have been slaughtered in East Anglia with suspected swine fever.

This includes several hundred pigs on a Fordham farm - and the results are expected on pigs at a Tendring farm in the next few days.

The highly infectious disease, which affects pigs but poses no risk to humans, has affected pigs at a farm in Fordham and two others in Suffolk and Norfolk.

Tests are also being carried out at farms in Suffolk and Norfolk in the first outbreak of the disease in Britain for 14 years.

Farmers in Cheshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire are also anxiously awaiting the results of tests to see if their pigs have succumbed to the illness.

The United States and Canada have followed suit with the European Union in banning the import of pigs and meat, although UK food experts say there is no risk to humans.

A Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food ban currently forbids the movement of pigs within surveillance areas in Essex and Suffolk.

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