1967 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak: Difference between revisions

The '''1967 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak''' was a major outbreak of [[foot and mouth]] disease in the [[United Kingdom]]. The only centre of the disease, in contrast to the three concentrated areas in the [[2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis|2001 crisis]], was on the [[Wales border]] with [[Shropshire]].<ref name = "Guardian">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/mar/14/footandmouth.economy |title=Crisis now worse than in 1967 |work=[[The Guardian|Guardian Online]] |first=Paul |last=Brown |date=14 March 2001 |accessdateaccess-date=23 August 2009}}</ref> [[France]] and other European countries were also affected by the crisis.<ref name = "Guardian" />

There were three official inquiresinquiries into the foot-and-mouth epidemics and the Government’s response in the fifty years prior to the 1967 outbreak. These occurred in 1922, 1923-1924, and 1953.<ref name="DEFRA">{{cite web |url=http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/fmd/2001/1967a.htm |title=FMD: Comparisons with the 1967 FMD outbreak |work=Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs |date=25 June 2008 |accessdateaccess-date=15 October 2009 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20091106030212/http%3A//www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/fmd/2001/1967a.htm |archive-date=2009-11-06 |dead-url-status=yes |df=dead }}</ref> In the 1950s, there was a substantial outbreak across the United Kingdom. Of the thirteen years leading up to the 1967 outbreak, there were only two years that there was no reported outbreak.<ref name = "DEFRA" /> During this period, foot-and-mouth was prevalent across Europe.{{cn|date=June 2021}}

In October 1967, a farmer from Bryn Farm near [[Oswestry]] in the county of [[Shropshire]], concerned by the health of one of their [[Suidae|sows]], sought veterinary advice and the animal was found to have contracted [[foot-and-mouth disease]]. Bryn Farm was immediately put into [[quarantine]] and general animal movement was banned. The virus rapidly spread to the nearby Ellis Farm. Two cows from the latter had already been sent to market, leaving the farmers in a vulnerable position.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eden.lsu.edu/Issues_View.aspx?IssueID=5f3b1efb-d295-4d8e-9cab-8e3bba3c3824#UK_1967 |title=Foot and Mouth disease - FMD |publisher=EDEN |accessdateaccess-date=24 August 2009 |archiveurlarchive-url=https://wwwweb.webcitationarchive.org/5jWhA2XWL?url=web/20091001041501/http://www.eden.lsu.edu/Issues_View.aspx?IssueID=5f3b1efb-d295-4d8e-9cab-8e3bba3c3824 |archivedatearchive-date=41 SeptemberOctober 2009 |deadurl=yes |dfurl-status=dead }}</ref> In the following months, over 2,364 outbreaks were detected in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1181965.stm |title=Nobody knew who would be next |publisher=[[BBC|British Broadcasting Corporation]] |first=Hilary |last=Bowden |date=21 February 2001 |accessdateaccess-date=15 October 2009}}</ref> Ninety-four percent of the cases occurred in North-West Midlands and [[North Wales]].<ref name = "DEFRA" />

The Minister for Agriculture, [[Frederick Peart]], appointed a committee to investigate the outbreak. ''The Report of the Committee of Inquiry on Foot-and-Mouth Disease'' part 1 and part 2 were published on 7 March 1969 and 3 November 1969.<ref name = "DEFRA" /> This report became more commonly known as the Northumberland Report, after its chairman the [[Hugh Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland|Duke of Northumberland]], a member of the House of Lords.<ref name="Henderson">{{cite web |last1=Henderson, FRS |first1=Sir William |title=Hugh Algernon Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbm.1990.0016 |website=Royal Society}}</ref> It provided recommendations to keep the disease out of the country and plans for fighting the foot-and-mouth disease.<ref name = "DEFRA" />

After the outbreak, the United Kingdom adopted a policy to control imports from countries where foot-and-mouth is endemic. After creating this policy, the only outbreak to occur until 2001 was in 1981 on the [[Isle of Wight]].<ref name = "DEFRA" />

According to John Bennett, a young farmer at the time of the crisis at Manor Farm in [[Worcestershire]], the disease was introduced into the county "when a local farmer fed skimmed milk, bought from Shropshire where the disease was raging out of control, to his pigs".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1186607.stm |title=1967: Remembering the epidemic |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC|British Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=24 February 2001 |accessdateaccess-date=23 August 2009}}</ref>

Over the course of six months, 430,000 animals across 2300 farms were slaughtered.<ref name = "Guardian" /> The average number of animals that were slaughtered in each confirmed case was around 200.{{cn|date=June 2021}}

The 1967 crisis saw the last reported case of human foot-and-mouth disease. The victim was a farm-worker who was believed to have contracted the virus by consuming contaminated milk. The disease was not life-threatening and they were able to recover within several weeks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1120233 |title=UK investigates possible human cases of foot and mouth disease |work=Pub Med Central |publisher=[[BMJ]] |first=Susan |last=Mayor |date=5 May 2001 |accessdateaccess-date=23 August 2009}}</ref>

* [[2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis]]

* [[2007 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak]]

[[Category:MedicalDisease outbreaks in the United Kingdom]]

[[Category:1960sNorth medical outbreaksWales]]