foot and mouth disease interview (PDF) - Royal Geographical Society
foot and mouth disease interview (PDF) - Royal Geographical Society
foot and mouth disease interview (PDF) - Royal Geographical Society
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Ask the Experts<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The feeding of untreated swill to pigs;<br />
A delay in diagnosis of infected pigs;<br />
The infection of sheep by a virus plume;<br />
The undetected <strong>disease</strong> in sheep for weeks; <strong>and</strong><br />
Large numbers of sheep movements.<br />
The first case of FMD was detected at Cheale Meats abattoir in Little Warley, Essex on pigs from<br />
Buckinghamshire <strong>and</strong> the Isle of Wight. Over the next four days, several more cases were recorded in<br />
Essex. On 23 February 2001, a case<br />
was confirmed in Heddon-on-the-<br />
Wall, Northumberl<strong>and</strong>, from where<br />
the pig in the first case had come<br />
from; this farm was later confirmed<br />
as the source of the outbreak. In the<br />
weeks <strong>and</strong> months that followed<br />
cases were confirmed across the<br />
country. The map below shows the<br />
location of premises infected by<br />
FMD. Cumbria was the worst<br />
affected area of the country, with<br />
843 recorded cases.<br />
The rapid geographical spread of the<br />
<strong>disease</strong> highlighted two changes in<br />
farming practices.<br />
Firstly, the delay in detecting the<br />
outbreak in Northumberl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> the<br />
considerable movement of animals<br />
that occurred in the three week<br />
intervening period – 2 million sheep<br />
were moved around the country<br />
during this time with some animals<br />
being bought <strong>and</strong> resold though<br />
markets in different regions of the<br />
UK over very short time periods.<br />
Secondly, it highlighted the<br />
centralisation of animal slaughtering<br />
<strong>and</strong> processing which involved<br />
animals travelling long distances to a<br />
small number of large abattoirs<br />
determined by major supermarkets