Foot and Mouth Returns

[StuartDH]

BBC NEWS | England | Farm infected with foot-and-mouth

After spending a year in Cumbria working on the last Foot and Mouth crisis, I can't help but worry that this could all go horribly wrong again. Just before we left, we asked the bosses if they wanted us to stay on for an extra week and write a 'How to...' guide in case it ever came up again - they weren't interested

I really hope that this'll be an isolated case

[Wild-Woman]

This is appalling news. The scenes we all witnessed at the last outbreak was upsetting beyond words. My heart and thoughts go out to all farmers at the moment.
Let's hope that DEFRA have enough plans put in place to sort it...and quickly.

[mrs fish]

Horrible news

I only mentioned foot and mouth yesterday in another thread

I still don't understand why they have to cull the cattle instead of treat them?

[Kymba]

I found this on a BBC Forum... Done in Feb 2001 Answers by former president of the British Veterinary Association, GP Francis Anthony and Anthony Gibson from the National Farmer's Union. here are just a couple of extracts that maybe of interest.
( sorry still not sure what links we can and cant usehence i am pasting some of it )

News Host:
Frances Anthony, as a vet, is that a usual way of foot-and-mouth spreading around?

Francis Anthony:
It is indeed. Pigs happen to be wonderful sentinels for the infection and secondly they are wonderful virus factories. This could have come in on a sandwich - it could have come in on any piece of meat from an infected area. The failure was in the cooking process because it is quite safe to feed waste food for pigs provided it is cooked under pressure for over an hour at 100 degrees centigrade but we all know there can be failures of plant. The pig is a wonderful virus factory for foot-and-mouth disease; give it a few particles and whoosh - out it comes.

News Host:
So the pig is excreting the virus as well then is it?

Francis Anthony:
The pig is excreting the virus very, very quickly. The incubation period is thought to be up to 14 days but with very virulent strains like the "o" strain from Asia it could be as little as three days but on average probably seven days.

News Host:
Why is it necessary to kill so many animals - why can't we treat them?

Francis Anthony:
Well you cannot treat most viruses easily - you can't treat people with influenza or the common cold - you can just support them until they get over it. One has to remember that foot-and-mouth disease doesn't kill animals - it kills very few - perhaps only the young and the weak. If you left it to run its course the animals would recover. But unfortunately dairy cows would not produce milk, beef animals would not fatten, lambs and pigs would not fatten. So the economic effect, bearing in mind that all these animals are producing products for human consumption, would be devastating.


News Host:
So is the slaughter a purely commercial concern?

Anthony Gibson:
You could say it is commercial concern and you could also say it is animal health concern. But one really doesn't want to have foot-and-mouth disease in the animal population on a long-term basis. The reason why so many animals have to be slaughtered is because it is such an infectious condition. The animals have to be slaughtered and incinerated under very particular conditions to make sure that any risk of the virus escaping into the atmosphere and being blown onto another farm is minimised.

[mrs fish]

Meat rations would be good to have then, I think they would be good anyway
Children get foot and mouth , there was an outbreak in the town last year.
It is all about money though

[AnnMercia]

My Heart Sank When I Heard About The News. I Lived On The Yorkshire Moors During The Last Outbreak, And Am In Cumbria Now...it's Just Dvestating - Not Only For The Animals But For The Farmers As Well - I Have Heard Of A Few That Even Ended It All After The Last Outbreak.... I Have Everything Crossed That This Is An Isolated Case, But Like A Lot Of People, Ive Got A Feeling It Wont Be

[moonchild84]

I live in Dorset - and I remember the last outbreak - I was in Animal Care College at the time. Luckily, none of the livestock on the campus needed to be slaughtered, because the College took measures to ensure it was not passed in or out. I didn't worry about it too much then - but now I have a son and one on the way, it worries me more. As it is easily transferrable between animals and humans, I think the best answer is culling, as treatment and quarantine is a particularly difficult task to enforce. Of course, no one wants animals be to killed because of something that probably comes down to human error, but we do not want a spread of this virus throughout the whole country. I think culling is the least detrimental effect to the economy and the farming community.

[smartie]

Originally Posted by mrs fish

Children get foot and mouth , there was an outbreak in the town last year.
(

The disease children (and some adults) get is not the same as the animal form - it is a different virus and, though uncomfortable, generally quite mild. There is only one recorded case in the UK in the last century of a human catching the animal form of foot and mouth (in 1966 - a farm worker) and there is no evidence at all that I know of that the animal form of foot and mouth can be transferred between humans.

[jdurbo]

I remember last year the school sent my son home and said he had foot and mouth and was not to go back to school until he had the all clear from the doctors, so i was running around like a headless chicken and rushed him off to the doctors..when i get there the doctors just laughed and said i was just heat rash.
Im really glad it was just heat rash but the school was making everyone panic really bad.
jen xxx

[mrs fish]

It does not make children ill, they get a few spots on their palms and soles and inside the mouth.