Gordon Brown was on his way back to London this morning to deal with the foot-and-mouth outbreak as farmers prayed that the identification of the disease on a farm in Surrey was an isolated incident.

Farmers, already suffering from a deflated market, said that the outbreak brought enormous concern and “vivid memories” of the 2001 crisis, when 6.5 million animals were slaughtered.

The Prime Minister took part by telephone in a meeting of the Cobra crisis committee last night and will chair another meeting in person this morning.

Hugh Pennington, Emeritus Professor of Microbiology at Aberdeen University, cautioned that “speed is of the essence” in handling the outbreak. “We have got to really stop this virus spreading, obviously first of all to stamp it out in the locality where it has been identified and then see whether the virus has got anywhere else,” he said. “This was what happened in 2001 – the animals had been moving about the country incubating the disease and before we knew where we were there were virus outbreaks from Cumbria to Devon.”

Peter Kendall, the President of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “This would be devastating if it turned out to be a major outbreak. We desperately want to make sure that this is a small isolated incident.” He said that a particular worry was that the livestock industry was already depressed. “The livestock sector – beef and sheep – is still struggling very badly. This will be a major disappointment to the industry if it was a large outbreak.”

Tim Bonner, spokesman for the Countryside Alliance, said that farmers around the country would be hoping and praying that the disease was not already widespread. “We hope and pray that the lessons from last time have been learnt. The handling of the crisis in 2001 was an unmitigated disaster.”

He added: “This is not just potentially a disaster for farmers but for the wider rural economy, which was devastated in 2001. Tourism is the biggest industry in the countryside and right now we are at the height of the season. If the countryside is closed down like in 2001, this could be a disaster for thousands of rural businesses.”

The East Surrey constituency of Peter Ainsworth, the Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is not far from the site of the outbreak. He said: “The last thing we need is a repeat of the horrific images that blazed across the world in 2001. It is essential that the Government acts quickly to contain this outbreak and considers all possible options, including vaccination.”

Vets said last night that vaccination was a “tool in the box” but it was too early to say whether it might be employed. David Caplow, president of the British Veterinary Association, said: “If we can identify this to one small incident in one unit in one location and the disease can be stopped dead in its tracks, then we don’t need to get into the vaccination debate.”

Debby Reynolds, the UK Chief Veterinary Officer, said that the Government’s contingency plans had swung into action but emphasised that it was too early to tell how serious the outbreak could be. She insisted that while there had been a few cases where the disease had transferred to people, there was no danger to human health.

Ms Reynolds described the next steps in the operation at the affected farm. “All cattle on this farm will be culled,” she said. “They will be culled humanely, then they will be disposed of by incineration. So they won’t be burnt. There will be no fires in the countryside.”

What happened in 2001

— Foot-and-mouth symptoms were first spotted in pigs at the Cheale meats abattoir in Essex on February 19, 2001, during a routine inspection

— Two days later state vets discovered the disease at Burnside Farm in Northumberland. More outbreaks in Cumbria. Within a week the disease had reached Devon

— By March Tony Blair had called in the Army. Piles of carcasses on funeral pyres dominated TV footage

— Vaccination was called for by the Prince of Wales but rejected by farmers and meat industry for reasons of trade

— The outbreak was over by October. The total number of diseased farms had reached 2,030, with 6.5 million animals killed

— About £1.34 billion was paid to farmers in compensation, while only £39 million was allocated to a Business Recovery Fund to help rural companies that had suffered

— The outbreak cost £8 billion

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