Foot & Mouth DISEASE
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious virus that affects all cloven-hoofed livestock, including cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. It is the most contagious livestock disease.
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Excessive salivation is a telltale sign of foot and mouth disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a strong system for detecting and responding to outbreaks of this and other livestock diseases.
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Issue # 188-November 2001
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How It Could Happen Here
By Jon Geller, DVM
Kathy H. struggled to shove her carry-on bag into the overhead compartment. She had just spent two weeks visiting distant relatives in England's farm country, andstashed deep inside the bag was a pork sausage made there on her cousin's farm.Kathy owned a dude ranch in northern Colorado, and was returning from her first visit to Europe. She had no way of knowing that in a little more than seven hours, her innocent, apparently small act of smuggling would lead to the most devastating outbreakof a contagious disease in American livestock since an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 1929. Her actions would lead to the mass slaughter of millions of animals andthe economic demise of thousandsoffarmers and ranchers.
Although Kathy's story is strictly hypothetical, it is completely conceivable. Consider the reality:
TRANSMISSION OF FOOT AND-MOUTH DISEASE
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious virus that affects all cloven-hoofed livestock, including cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. It is the most contagious livestock disease, and, according to one U.S. Department of Agriculture official, "moves like wildfire." More exotic livestock, such as l lamas, elk, deer, bison, bears, armadillos, hedgehogs and elephants, are also susceptible. The disease can easily be transmitted in the air, by direct contact or by ingestion. Air currents and wind can transmit virus particles from heavily infected animals up to 40 miles away.
The virus can be carried in uncooked, underprocessed meat, fat, and milk or food items produced from them (such as sausage, for instance). Virus particles can be transmitted on contaminated inanimate objects like soil, clothing and shoes, surviving up to 46 days at room temperature.
As she headed through customs, Kathy noticed signs instructing arrivingpassengerswho had been to England to have their shoes disinfected in foot baths. The customsofficer specifically asked her if she had visited any farms or had any food products in her possession. She felt herself flushing as she fibbed, hoping her sausage could make it home as a gift for a friend.
The customs official gave her a quick glance, lingering momentarily on Kathy's reddened face. She looked innocent enough, and he nodded her through his portal without a baggage search. She stepped into the foot bath, then wheeled her luggage under the towering tent poles that supported Denver International'smassive white roof, heading toward her pickup parked in the outer lot.
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