When Bobby Brewis was found to have the last confirmed case of human foot-and-mouth disease in the UK he became a minor celebrity.

As a second suspected human case is investigated in Cumbria 35 years on, BBC News Online's Finlo Rohrer speaks to the family of the doctor who initially diagnosed Mr Brewis in Rothbury, Northumberland, as they remember the media glare.

Dr Rex Armstrong, whose ancestors had been medics in Northumberland since the Civil War, was the first to examine the weals and sores of Bobby Brewis in 1966.

But by the time the final tests confirmed his suspicions of a rare human case of foot-and-mouth, the patient's symptoms had all but disappeared.

His son Angus is a doctor at the same surgery in Rothbury, now only miles from current foot-and-mouth outbreaks at Morpeth and Kirkwhelpington.

Dr Armstrong admitted that his father became something of a minor celebrity, although Mr Brewis' celebrity had unfortunate consequences.

He told BBC News Online: "The publicity that went with it was a disaster, [Mr Brewis] lost his job and everything as a result...

"He was an agricultural machinery salesman and no-one wanted him on their farms - I think he became a chef in Sunderland.

"He was an interesting character, a jolly chap, but foolishly let it be known that he had it."

Dr Armstrong said that the cause of Mr Brewis' illness had remained a mystery as, although a cow had had the disease on the farm he was staying on, he had only watched the slaughter from a distance.

Lord Lambton, MP at the time of the Rothbury outbreak, wrote in a recent letter to the Daily Telegraph that it was said Mr Brewis had initially fainted upon hearing the news as he feared he would be shot.

Dr Rex Armstrong's knowledge became prized in the aftermath of the case, with contributions to the British Medical Journal.

His son added: "He was the only person who had seen it at that stage, it was only one case and by the time the blood tests came back, it was better.

"It was a very mild disease, there, transient and gone in a few days..."
Courtesy bbc.com

As Dr. Armstrong's son points out Foot and Mouth Disease is "a very mild disease…transient and gone in a few days." The same holds true for animal livestock as well as humans. The 'spin' that is being played on the current FMD outbreak is being used to break individual family run farms; allowing the corporate agri business combines to move in and buy farms at rock bottom prices. Rixon.