Lessons can be learned from the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak on how to rebuild after devastating social and economic loss caused by a virus, people who lived through it have said. On February 19 2001, the highly-contagious virus was detected at an Essex abattoir, and over weeks and months it spread around the country, leading to six million farm animals being culled. Farmers went into self-isolation to prevent disease spread and children were kept off school - and people were told to keep away from the countryside, effectively shutting it down. Funeral pyres burned on farms across the country, a general election was delayed, sporting fixtures were postponed and the Army had to be brought in to help.