How the Gazette and Echo reported on the foot and mouth outbreak in Essex MENTION foot-and-mouth disease and most people will have some recollection of the epidemic which swept the UK 20 years ago. They might not remember the exact date or how the disease took hold, but they will recall the slaughter of tens of thousands of animals. They will remember the plight of farmers watching their livelihoods literally going up in smoke and, somewhere in the back of their minds, a memory that the first “confirmation” was at an abbatoir in Essex. The first case of the disease to be detected was at Cheale Meats abattoir in Little Warley on February 19 2001 on pigs from Buckinghamshire and the Isle of Wight.
Foot-and-mouth outbreak s parallels with Covid pandemic
By Catherine Lee
image captionMillions of animals were slaughtered and incinerated during the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak
It was a rapidly-spreading virus, with stringent measures taken to contain its transmission. It delayed elections and had a huge economic impact. Sound familiar?
On 19 February 2001 a case of foot-and-mouth disease was discovered at an abattoir in Essex.
By the time the outbreak was declared over it had spread across the British countryside and more than six million sheep, cattle and pigs had been slaughtered.
There had been major disruption nationally and, although the disease did not leap to humans, the overall cost to the UK economy was estimated at £8bn.
How the Gazette and Echo reported on the foot and mouth outbreak in Essex MENTION foot-and-mouth disease and most people will have some recollection of the epidemic which swept the UK 20 years ago. They might not remember the exact date or how the disease took hold, but they will recall the slaughter of tens of thousands of animals. They will remember the plight of farmers watching their livelihoods literally going up in smoke and, somewhere in the back of their minds, a memory that the first “confirmation” was at an abbatoir in Essex. The first case of the disease to be detected was at Cheale Meats abattoir in Little Warley on February 19 2001 on pigs from Buckinghamshire and the Isle of Wight.