From the State Vet’s Office

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

REMAINING VIGILANT

BY DR. TONY FRAZIER

I included most of this article in a recent Alabama Cattlemen’s article, but I wanted to share with the readers of the Alabama Farmers Co-op. This is one of the livestock diseases that really scares us. The last outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) to occur in the United States was in California in 1929. The most severe outbreak was in 1914. That outbreak originated in Michigan and made its way into the Chicago stockyards, eventually infecting 3,500 livestock herds. The result was the eradication of over 170,000 cattle, sheep, and swine. The estimated cost in 2021 dollars for the eradication was about $122 million.

Those outbreaks were a little over and almost a century ago respectively. In the past century, both animal and people movement have changed drastically. There are still many countries in the world where FMD is just another disease that they deal with on a regular basis. (Those are generally countries where just finding enough to eat every day is a challenge for

many of their citizens.) Almost any day people who have travelled from those countries come into the United States, after possibly having been exposed to the virus.

It has probably been about twenty years since I was having a conversation with the director of our Plum Island Foreign Animal Disease Laboratory. We were talking about the possible threat of FMD in the United States. His opinion was that people may be tracking the disease in through our airports, but since we are not so much of an agrarian society, the virus dies harmlessly on city streets. If that is indeed the case, we are always just rolling dice and hoping they don’t turn up snake eyes.

Another concern brought up at a recent cattlemen’s convention out West, is that some estimates see the potential losses in the cattle industry over ten years of $130 billion. There is no real way of knowing, but I suspect that we would be a long time getting over a FMD outbreak.

Another concern that we have is that, if the animals are examined after the blisters appear on the muzzle, mouth, lips, tongue, udders, genital mucosa, and feet, it could be mistaken for common domestic diseases. Bovine viral diarrhea mucosal disease, as well as a severe case of bluetongue virus, can cause lesions on mucous membranes of cattle. Pair that with the fact that the FMD virus is one of the most contagious viruses out there and we have a serious problem. To add to the problem, the virus causes less severe signs in sheep, goats and pigs which could allow the virus to spread somewhat under the radar.

Foot and mouth disease is a foreign animal disease as well as a reportable disease. And since the USDA laboratories will have to make the diagnosis, any confirmed case of foot and mouth will be reported to the State Veterinarian and our colleagues at USDA Veterinary Services, the producer must be our boots on the ground that reports to your veterinarian any signs that may be consistent with the disease such as lameness, drooping, reluctance to allow calves to nurse, and reluctance to walk, to name a few.

We have always exercised our FMD plan with a plan that includes early detection. However, that may not be the case. We could be several days into the outbreak before we realize that the virus has been spread far and wide. And that brings on the concern as to where will the personnel come from to work the outbreak. There are plans in place to stop animal movement within 72 hours of FMD being diagnosed.

That could take a sizeable workforce to accomplish. Over the past couple of decades, the number of state and federal animal health workers has been dramatically reduced. In Alabama, right before I went to work for the State Department of Agriculture, the state was divided into 8 sections with a veterinarian in each section. Today Alabama is divided into six animal health sections that are staffed with field veterinarians. Four of them are USDA Veterinary Services veterinarians and two are State of Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries veterinarians. The loss of state and federal animal health technicians is also a concern. As I mentioned, there were eight sections about the time I started working with the state as a field veterinarian. Sometime before that, the state was divided into sixteen sections during the height of the Brucellosis Eradication Program and most of those sections had a couple of animal health technicians. Back then if any kind of disease task force needed to be pulled together, we had the personnel. Foot and mouth disease is a foreign Today, excluding our two anianimal disease as well as a reportable disease. mal health technicians dedicated to poultry diseases, we have a total of 6 technicians to cover the state. As the USDA has continued to reduce their workforce over the years, they just deploy their workers from all over the country to the area where a disease outbreak may be occurring. That tends to work well if there are not too many hot spots at the same time. It is not a stretch of the imagination to believe that if we have a FMD outbreak, there could be disease hot spots popping up quickly all over a multi-state region. That would further dilute our workforce. And by the way, I haven’t even mentioned that FMD can affect and be carried by deer, elk, feral hogs and anything else out there with cloven hooves (two toes). There is an old saying that says ... well I won’t quote the old saying, but it generally means that if you get a domestic disease into your wild life population, you are behind the eight ball. Because of those considerations I have mentioned, it is extremely important that you have your animals that leave the farm identified for traceability and that you keep good records. We always encourage that you exercise strict biosecurity, which will be beneficial in controlling any contagious disease. And always have a good relationship with your local veterinarian who will be able to alert the State Veterinarian and the USDA Veterinarians. If you have questions about FMD, please do not hesitate to call me at 334240-7253.