The foot and mouth disease (FMD) epidemic in the United Kingdom 2001

The foot and mouth disease epidemic commenced in February 2001 when diseased pigs were identified in an abattoir. The infection had become widespread in sheep in England and Wales before this discovery. It was decided to eradicate the disease by slaughter rather than use vaccine. The virus was a Pan-Asia O strain that caused few lesions in sheep and this made the identification of infected flocks very difficult leading to a long drawn-out epidemic. Over four million animals were slaughtered in 2000 herds and flocks. The last outbreak was in September. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.