Foot and mouth disease

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My local paper says the outbreak may be at an abattoir a coouple of miles from me in Stockton. I go to Stockton twice a week for my IT classes. They're disinfecting the area. There's a lock-in for the workers there. They have to wait till the vets have finished. It's under quarantine. I didn't really expect to have this on my own doorstep. There's only a very small of land between Middlesbrough and Stockton. No distance really. I wonder if this will end. I was hoping to go to the Dales later in the spring for a few days out.

Northerner, what's an abattoir?

Pete2 it's a fancy name for a slaughter-house. I don't know what they call them in the States. It's where the farm animals go.

Oh! I guess it all makes sense then. What a terrible thing to have happen! :(

Terri

My local abattoir was given the all-clear. Definitely safer to err on the safe side. My supermarket now has a notice up saying they'll be using imports.

That would definitely make me feel better. I might even go vegetarian for a while because I'd be so terrified.

Terri

I am a vegetarian-but i think a lot of Brits are turning too.

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Hello Patty! There is very little risk to humans. The big problem is of course economic. But there's people being laid off and there's some farmers feeling suicidal. There's effects on haulage, and abattoirs, and meat-processing firms. Many sporting events have been cancelled and other events too. The tourist trade in our country is now showing signs of being hit - bookings are down.
FMD can be fatal for young animals. Those that survive can be left lame or have problems giving milk. We don't have our normal number of farms supplying meat at the moment so that means there is a shortfall so we will have to import more. The large numbers of animals being slaughtered is causing pprblems carrying out the cull. I hope there will be some rethinking and further research on vaccines.

Two days ago on the news they showed a bunch of cargo crates that had just been ofloaded onto a dock somewhere in the US. The cargo crates contain farming equipment from a country that has hoof and mouth and the equipment is contaminated and they are supposedly going to hold the equipment until it is fumigated or they figure out how to sterilize all of it.

That scares me.....

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Our farmers are having a problem with lambing now. If they move the mums-to-be into better pastures for birthing there's a risk of spreading infection by livestock movement. There's now talk of culling a million sheep. Also more talk of calling in the troops to help with some of the problems the farmers face. Tony Blair has another meeting today to discuss the crisis. Number of cases now at 183. Possibility that this may be being paased on by the wind. Not good news.

Latest in international news indicates that Foot and Mouth is now in northwestern France, despite huge efforts to block the disease from crossing the channel.

Mike

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Hullo Mike! I'd heard it might be in France as well. England and France are very close geographically. Patty, I don't know how far it can travel on the wind. Within the borders of a country and over the border to a neighbouring country. That's probably its limit. I think it's very unlikely that it could survive airborne from Britain to the States. Our newspapers today are grim.

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I am so sorry that this is still happening to you all. I just returned from visiting my daughter in Ireland March 8th. The news and precautions there were remarkable. I pray for all of you. Since there is very little news about Foot and Mouth here, I was hoping to read here that things were better. In Ireland the farms were under strict controls and chemical mats were place at all entrances to the shops. The ferry at Rosslare had 4 stops, with 2 chemical baths and 2 interogations (one by customs). People are not being stopped from traveling to Wales and England but strongly cautioned against it. But in reality it will be amazing if it doesn't pop up there. The postmaster must still travel between farms and people have relatives in Ireland and England (all parts). It was not even a question posed by customs when returning to the US. We are in total denial. Of course the Agricultural guy was there asking the usual "Do you have food?" question, but nothing regarding Foot and Mouth itself. I think of you all constantly hope this terrible tragedy ends soon.

I read The Times on the internet today and the Government is calling in the Army to slaughter thousands of lambing ewes. I suppose it has to be done, but I'm sick to my stomach. And yes, it has spread to France.

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my heart goes out to the farmers whose farms are infected with foot and mouth my question is so much news about people or other farm animals spreading the disease what about wild birds carrying the disease?? is anything or can anything be done about that??I would suspect birds traveling over larger areas are the biggest problem with this disease being spread.

Yes, it's spread to France. Wildlife may be able to spread the infection. I can barely watch the news on tv about it now.

Can you believe there is a vacine available for this disease, but the Government said it was too expensive!
How naive! Wonder how much at the end of the day this is all going to cost the Government. A [profanity removed] sight more than a few vacinations!
I also heard on the tv this morning that France used to have a vacination programme for years, but when they joined the EU, they were told to stop it coz it was too costly.And can you beleive this...Britain was the one who ringleaded the call for the vacinations to stop in France!
I think our Government has a lot to answer for.

That's terrible! :(

Hi daisy_chain! Welcome to DG! :)

Terri

Makes me wonder about germ warfare...very effective it seems.

I'm afraid this disease is going to have to run its course and all we can do is hope its a short one the problem is the virus is a very stable one and can last on anything for 8-1o weeks in that time frame who knows where it could end up I'm in canada and I don't think we have had f&m since the fifties (correct me if I'm wrong).

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bleaching a virus doesn't kill it it bleaches the nucleus(the middle) of the virus an stops it from reproducing and so rendering harmless.they have started this procedure in canada at the airports.

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Found this on Yahoo,Foot-And-Mouth the highly infectious disease that has NOW spread to livestock in parts of the Middle East. Keith

They Found it in Vermont

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Foot-and-mouth disease is a severe, highly communicable viral disease of cattle and swine. It also affects sheep, goats, deer, and other cloven-hoofed ruminants. The United States has been free of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929.


USDA Release No. 0051.01

Jim Rogers (802) 828-4532
Anna Cherry (301) 734-7799
Kevin Herglotz (202) 720-4623

USDA REMOVES QUARANTINED SHEEP FROM VERMONT FARM

MONTPELIER, Vt., March 21, 2001--The U.S. Department of Agriculture under the authority of the U.S. District Court, today removed a flock of 233 quarantined sheep from a private farm in Vermont.

The sheep, imported from Belgium and the Netherlands in 1996, were placed under certain federal restrictions when they entered the country as part of USDA's scrapie control efforts. In 1998, USDA learned that it was likely that sheep from Europe were exposed to feed contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. At that time, the state of Vermont, at the request of USDA, imposed a quarantine on these flocks, which prohibited slaughter or sale for breeding purposes.

On July 10, 2000, several sheep from the flock tested positive for a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. TSE is a class of degenerative neurological diseases that is characterized by a very long incubation period and a 100 percent mortality rate. Two of the better known varieties of TSE are BSE in cattle and scrapie in sheep. Unlike BSE, there is no evidence that scrapie poses a risk to human health. Based on current testing methodology, there is no way to determine whether the sheep have BSE or scrapie.

On July 14, 2000, USDA issued a declaration of extraordinary emergency to acquire the sheep. This action was contested by the flock owners. A federal district court judge ruled in favor of USDA based on the merits of the case. The flock owners appealed to the Second Circuit Court requesting a stay, which was denied.

The sheep will be transported to USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, where they will be humanely euthanized. Tissue samples will be collected from the sheep for diagnostic testing.

The owners will be compensated for the fair market value of the sheep.

"While we understand this is a very difficult time for the flock owners, USDA has no choice but to take this decisive action based on the threat the sheep pose to the health of America's livestock nationwide," said Craig Reed, administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The current BSE situation highlights USDA's important role in safeguarding America's livestock from such devastating foreign animal diseases.


Regards,


Tom Castronovo
President & Host
The Master Gardener Show, Inc.
E-Mail: Info@TheMGShow.com
www.TheMasterGardenerShow.com

this is a form related to "mad cow" - not foot and mouth (hoof and mouth in the US). this one has been ongoing for quite sometime. Foot and mouth is an entirely different disease.
Kathleen

Is it as bad as "mad cow", Kathleen?

Terri

I really don't know the answer to that Terri, but the article seems to down play it. I know the shepherds involved have been fighting this for quite awhile - it had some coverage in one of the farming journals. It is a very separate thing from the foot and mouth, though. That has not appeared in the US yet.

Kathleen

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From what I understand, the vaccine for Foot & Mouth can't be used as a preventative measure because animals that have been given it, or products from them, aren't allowed to enter the food chain. The animals don't get the disease, but they can still pass it on, but as they don't have any symptoms, no-one knows whether they are infectious or not. If any country in the European Union vaccinated their national herd, meat and animal produce from the whole of the EU would be banned by other importing countries.

Foot and mouth disease and mad cow disease are two diiferent diseases. Foot and mouth is no threat to human health although it does have terrible consquences for us financially. Mad cow disease can definitely be passed to humans. We have foot and mouth disease in my area now, in Stockton, just a couple of miles from me. Though I was over in Stockton today and didn't notice a thing. The market was on as normal, but it is not a livestock market. I believe the infection is slightly outside Stockton and on the other side of the town from me.

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Patty,

One thing's for sure; your last sentence rings true.

Mike

Our politicians have to make decisions regarding election dates today. One of the Lib Dems was on the radio toay, someone who lives in Cumbria, where it is really bad. He was wanting the dates postponed. I suspect our Tony will just go for the date it should be. Which is early May. I think the rural population will feel they've been disenfranchised. I think Labour has done too little too late.