Foot and mouth: 15 years later but the memories live on

It is now 15 years since the devastating foot and mouth (FMD) disease hit the UK but the memories are still vividly engrained in my mind.

After the excesses of the festive period, my wife and I decided to take a few days in January relaxing and walking in the South Lakes. We stayed near Grange-over-Sands and being in this beautiful part of the country brought a sense of deja vu. The last time I was driving along the same roads it was under very different circumstances, during the national FMD outbreak.

I was involved in 2001 by volunteering as a TVI (temporary veterinary inspector) and giving up two weeks of my annual leave from my small animal practice to go and help.

I signed up at BSAVA Congress in 2001 when MAFF (the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Farming) had a stand to encourage small animal vets to sign up during the course of the Congress. Soon after I was sent to Cumbria and stayed in a small guest house in Ulverston.

Devastation for farming communities

We were inducted initially at MAFF in Carlisle and then I was transferred to a temporary centre set up in the South Lakes.

The whole experience had a huge impact on me seeing at first hand the devastation to the local farming community.

The most distressing element was that while farmers understood the job we had to do it obviously caused them such immense distress. The slaughtering of whole herds and flocks in such large numbers was almost too much to take in.

The experience taught me that we must do all we can to stop this devastating disease getting into the country again and also to learn better how to deal with such an outbreak and avoid such wholesale slaughter.

This is why cutting funding for surveillance and not protecting the resources to mobilise a large number of contingency Official Veterinarians just would not make any rational sense. 

Vets are vital for disease surveillance

During my year as BVA President I took part in the  Defra-led Exercise Silver Birch which did an excellent job in testing the UK’s responses and how robust our current systems were. It raised a number of issues regarding the role of vaccination, the quality of communication channels and the adequacy of existing tracing systems. Important lessons were learnt which means we are better prepared if, heaven forbid, another outbreak does occur.

The key to dealing effectively with any disease outbreak is the speed of detection and response. This relies on having a comprehensive surveillance system in place and with Defra budget cuts ongoing there remains a real concern around the future of veterinary surveillance in the UK. In recent years livestock has been threatened with other diseases such as Bluetongue and Schmallenberg, showing that we can never be free from the risk of disease in the UK and vets are more vital than ever for disease surveillance. 

Harvey

Find out more about foot and mouth disease: how to spot and report it

Written by Harvey Locke
BVA President 2011-2012

Harvey is a former President of BVA and of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) and spent the majority of his veterinary career in small animal practice in Stockport. He currently chairs BVA's CPD Group.