The discovery of two dead seals on a Lincolnshire beach has sparked fears of a fresh outbreak of a fatal virus in UK waters.

Some 18,000 seals in northern Europe died of the highly infectious phocine distemper virus (PDV) in 1988.

The virus returned to Denmark in May 2002 and has so far killed 2,000 seals in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Wildlife experts say it is only a matter of time before the disease return to British shores.

Distemper has hit Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands

About 3,000 seals died off the coast of Norfolk in the 1988 epidemic.

Post-mortem tests are being carried out at the Norfolk Wildlife Hospital on the two seals found near Skegness this week.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: "Although we haven't found distemper we are very worried, we know it's imminent and it's bound to hit our shores.

"We are worried because it's taken 12 years to get back to the figures of seals there were in 1988."

Ian Robinson, RSPCA veterinary manager at the hospital near King's Lynn, said: "We hope it's not as destructive as last time but it's a vicious virus.

"It's not so much when it's going to hit the UK but how badly."

The virus attacks the seals' immune systems and leaves them susceptible to infection.

A RSPCA spokeswoman said it would be "distressing" for the seals to be vaccinated, as it is their breeding season.

The post-mortem results on the two seals are expected next week.