Foot-and-Mouth Disease Outbreak
May 11, 2001
The first official outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in over twenty years has caused the British government to ban all exports of live animals, and fresh meats and milk in February, 2001. In addition, British officials closed down a slaughterhouse in Essex, South England where 27 pigs were found to be contaminated. In addition, the government and quarantined two farms that had delivered the pigs to the slaughterhouse. A neighboring farm was is also under scrutiny.
The last outbreak of foot-in-mouth occurred in 1981 and resulted in the slaughter of 442,000 animals said to be contaminated. It was estimated that the loss to farmers was over $265 million dollars.
With this latest outbreak, the European Union banned all imports for one week, and the United States Department of Agriculture decided not to distribute any British pork products until the extent of the contamination could be determined.Until that time, the quarantined products would stay at U.S. ports.
The ban of exports has caused a stir with British pig farmers especially pig farmers. Over the past three years, pig farmers have battled low prices, an outbreak of swine fever, and floods. In addition, the strong pound creates more expensive British exports in Europe and the United States.
The public is also disturbed by the news of a foot-and-mouth outbreak. Despite the fact that foot-and-mouth disease does not typically migrate from animals to humans, the general public is still concerned, due to a similar situation with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or "mad cow" disease. "Mad cow" disease was also not supposed to affect humans, according to BSE experts, nevertheless many cases did have occurred. This causedAs a result, many people to have stopped eating meat products for fear of contamination. Farmers are now worried that the public will refuse to eat pork products for similar reasons.
When British officials began to notice the tell tale signs of foot-and-mouth disease, they became concerned and began to investigate slaughterhouses and farms in the surrounding area of Essex. Symptoms include blisters in the mouth and on the feet, resulting in excessive salivation and lameness in the animal.
At the present time, it has not yet been determined which exact strain of foot-and-mouth has infected these animals. Some experts suggest that it might be a form of the pan-Asiatic strain that has already infected Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, and Russia. The incubation period of this strain is 3-14 days, so experts will be able to determine the depth of the problem within a short period of time.
-- Article Courtesy of InjuryBoard.com
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