The Worldwide Eradication Of Foot And Mouth Disease

The Worldwide Eradication of Foot and Mouth Disease The potential threat of a foreign animal disease is always at the back of an agricultural livestock producer s mind because it could possibly be devastating both economically and environmentally. The disease has the potential to wipe out a large percentage of the livestock animal population, thus affecting the way the US uses the land that supports food animal production. The possibility of an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease is a big area of interest because of the ramifications the disease would have on the United States, but it would also be a great threat to any FMD free country. This disease is a highly infectious, viral disease of cloven-hoofed species. The tell-tale signs of†¦show more content†¦The tourism in the country would decline because of the fear of spreading the disease and there would be strict travel restrictions. The studies on how much an outbreak of FMD would cost the United States estimate that it w ould cost billions of dollars to completely solve the problem (Rushton). The United States and other FMD free countries are controlling the spread of the disease by prevention. This practice is normally the best policy, but in the case of FMD there are so many bases to cover. The countries prohibit the importation of meat and infected animals from FMD-affected countries. There are travel restrictions in place that try to prevent people from the affected countries from bringing the disease into the unaffected countries. The travel entrances into the country have strict bio-safety procedures in place similar to the rules enforced on farms. The example includes swine farms which enforce strict bio-security rules in order to protect the animals from outside contamination. The United States Department of Agriculture makes an effort to work with U.S Customs in order to monitor those entrances. The USDA makes sure that the public knows about FMD so that they can assist in the effort to contain it. The United States has eradicated FMD as of right now and the last outbreak was in 1929 in California, but experts predict it is just a matter of time before the disease pops up in the country.