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J M Scudamore

Publications and source records attributed to J M Scudamore.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Control of foot and mouth disease: lessons from the experience of the outbreak in Great Britain in 2001.

An epidemic of foot and mouth disease occurred on an unprecedented scale in Great Britain in 2001. This was characterised by widespread dissemination of disease in sheep due to infection being present but unreported for at least three weeks before the first case was identified. As envisaged by the contingency plans, existing procedures dealt rapidly with disease in many parts of the country where outbreaks were reported. Elsewhere, the scale and speed of disease spread was so great that veterinary resources had to be supplemented on the operational front by a large influx of military and administrative support. At the time of writing (June 2002), the United Kingdom Government has already identified a number of key lessons, and will learn further from this experience and from the findings of inquiries, how a future outbreak of this unprecedented nature and extent could be handled. Lessons identified so far relate to the improvement of contingency plans, the wider impact on rural businesses and communities, reassessing the possible use of emergency vaccination, the availability of serological capacity, better animal identification and movement controls, carcass disposal, communications, data handling and management information. The authors present the initial lessons learned and which formed the basis of official submissions to the inquiries. Further lessons will be learned from the findings of those inquiries.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Carcass disposal: lessons from Great Britain following the foot and mouth disease outbreaks of 2001.

The foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak that occurred in the United Kingdom in 2001 was of an unprecedented scale and severity and presented a massive logistical challenge to Government. Over 6.5 million animals were slaughtered and disposed of, over 4 million as a direct result of disease and a further 2.5 million on welfare grounds. On-farm burial and on-farm burning were the principal routes for disposal at the commencement of the outbreak. On-farm burial was limited by legislation to protect groundwater supplies and pyre burning came increasingly under attack from local communities concerned about health risks from smoke and emissions. Burning also painted a vivid but distressing picture of the war against disease. Increasingly, rendering capacity made an important contribution to disposal. The peak of the outbreak could only be managed by the development of a new disposal route--mass burial in engineered sites and by using licensed landfill where available. During the course of the outbreak, a disposal hierarchy was developed to reflect environmental and public health concerns, namely: rendering and incineration ranked first, licensed landfill next, followed by burning with mass burial or on-farm burial as the least preferred options. However, the campaign against the disease could not have been won without the tactical use of mass burial in addition to all the other available disposal routes. The authors describe the development and deployment of the disposal routes used in the 2001 outbreak.

Air Pollution↗