British farmers have grown used to tough times. But nothing could have prepared them for an epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) that took a cull of almost 4 million animals to eradicate.

The scientists who dealt with the outbreak are unlikely to forget this year either. Epidemiologists and veterinary scientists were thrust onto the public stage — and sometimes into conflict with one another — as supporters of a tough culling policy clashed with advocates of vaccination.

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