ABSTRACT
Several large-scale animal disease outbreaks in the United Kingdom (UK) since the Second World War have seriously damaged the economy and had long-lasting social effects on the farming communities in which they occurred. The suffering of diseased animals and the public outrage caused by mass slaughtering of healthy stock when necessary to prevent the spread of disease are invariably highly charged political issues. The animal health problems of the last 30 years have some interesting lessons to show us for the prevention of human health and safety disasters. Animals, just like us, are susceptible to numerous unpleasant diseases. While these cannot always be prevented vaccination can sometimes help and high standards of biosecurity at farms are essential an outbreak of the most virulent diseases, such as classical swine fever, foot and mouth disease or avian influenza, has to be swiftly and effectively controlled if it is not to spread widely.
