British Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak

"Foot and mouth disease has been discovered in the UK once again. The last time this epidemic hit the country was back in 2001 when the economic impact was close to GBP10 billion. The currency also suffered greatly as a result of the outbreak and in order to avert the same economic disaster that we saw in 2001, the government suspended exports of meat and dairy immediately."
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Could you imagine if something that big happened in the U.S.? Well we have had several outbreaks from some very well known viruses, maybe you have heard of them?

- West Nile
- Bird Flue
- Mad Cow

Well The FMD, Foot-Mouth-Disease, is a lot like the last one listed above. It can infect cattle, pigs, deer, goats and sheep. For more info on this disease read this article from wikipedia.org here.

The extent of the damage will go way beyond just bad meat and dead animals. It will gravely affect the British economy and send it on a somewhat of a downward spiral if this cannot be contained like it was in 2001 when the disease first appeared and caused massive economic trauma.

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"Even though the UK government will be working aggressively to control the situation, the breakout of Food and Mouth disease will lead to some sort of economic impact. In 2001, Foot and Mouth disease was first discovered on Feb 19, 2001. The UK responded by slaughtering animals, cancelling sporting events and postponing the general election. On a broader scale, British meat was shut out of the international markets and tourism was seriously affected. The crisis at the time was estimated to have cost Britain as much as 10 billion pounds (or $16 billion USD at the time)."

So, if you are planning a trip to Europe, stay away from the beef.