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Huron Expositor, 2002-04-17, Page 13Great Community Spirit! Congratulations! fe=c44717" Looking Grass Full Service Salon & Spa Treatmenu 4 Main St., Seaforth 527-1783 Congratulations on your Outstanding Effort! From all of us at TONT , E.D ED 1v4 Miles North of Seaforth 527-0120 Congratulations to all of you from all of us at Congratulations on your. impressive performance at The Boston Marathon! final a.CC I ad at... Whitney-Ribey Funeral Home 87 Goderich St., Seaforth 527-1390 Ross Ribey - Funeral Director It's great to see such community spirit. Congratulations from all of us! War SEAFORTH KM:KM FOOD MARKET 95 Main St., Seaforth 527-1631 Congratuiations on a wonderful achievement ANNA'S DRESS SHOP Main St., Seaforth 527-0489 Wuerth's Shoes & Saucony Canada wish to congratulate Seaforth's Boston Marathon Runners! You're an inspiration to us all! Comfort & support from a country stroll to a 25 mile city run uoill' y. it 0 ES Main St., Seaforth 527-1506 Congratulations from all of us at RONA CASHWAY Watch for our Mothar'a Day Breakfast Sat., May 12 PROCEEDS TO SEAFORTH COMMUNITY HOSPiTAI. F • NDATiON 198 Main St., Seaforth 527-0770 Congratulations from the entire staff at Huron itor "Your Community Newspaper" Main St., Seaforth 527-0240 Congratulations from the Mayor & Council MUNICIPALITY OF HURON EAST P.O. Box 610. Seaforth, Ontario 527-0160 Agriculture TM HURON EXPOSITOR, May 2, 2001-e Canada at no greater risk now than before, farmers learn at local foot and mouth meeting By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Staff Canada is probably at no greater risk for foot and mouth disease now than it was before the outbreak in the United Kingdom three months ago, close to 100 • local farmers were told last Wednesday. "There is an excellent chance we won't get it if it mostly remains in the UK. If it explodes through the continent, it becomes a lot more untidy about trying to keep it out," said Dr. Ernest Sanford, swine specialist for the pharmaceutical company Boeringer Ingleheim, of Burlington. Sanford, Dr. Jim Clark, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and John Forsyth, of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs spoke at a meeting sponsored by several Huron County agricultural groups last Wednesday at the Seaforth Agriplex. Forsyth said a series of meetings are being held throughout southwestern Ontario because of concerns about foot and mouth disease, a highly contagious livestock illness affecting cloven- hoofed animals that causes severe production losses but is of no risk to human health. "We see the grim images from the United Kingdom every night on TV with animals burning and being put in ditches," he said. But, despite that fact that the number of animals destroyed in the U.K. equals the population of Ontario's dairy and sheep herds, Clark said the disease has to be kept in perspective. He said last week's greeting of Prince Charles with a disinfectant mat when he arrived in Canada was more for publicity than to prevent any risk of foot and mouth disease spreading into Canada. "I don't think Bonnie Prince Charlie is a carrier in any way. I know he plays polo and rides horses but I doubt he's in contact with any farm animals on a routine basis. I'm more worried about what's in his suitcase," he said. Sanford agreed that while people can spread foot and mouth disease, the risk is much greater from meat or dairy products from affected countries, adding that the 1952 outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Saskatchewan was caused by a German farm worker bringing sausages to Canada and tossing the leftovers into a pig pen. "The sausage, the cheese, the. semen in the liquid nitrogen in a thermos someone says is tea - I'm more concerned about those sources than anything else," said Clark. Sanford told farmers that there's no great risk of spreading foot and mouth disease at socials or livestock shows, especially if there are no European visitors at the meeting. However, many local events involving livestock have been cancelled this year including the Slice of Huron event in Seaforth and the Ontario Holstein Spring Show in Stratford. This year's upcoming Pork Congress in Stratford will have no live is p gMost of the world had foot and mouth disease three months ago but we're a lot more aware of it now because of ,where it happened recently," said Sanford. Showing a slide of a map of the Earth, Sanford said foot and mouth disease has been endemic (or regularly found) on every continent in the world for hundreds of years, except for North America and Australia. While British Columbia farmers were concerned about its spread last year when Japan had an outbreak, because of the family ties between B.C. residents and Quoted We see the grim images from the United Kingdom every night on TV of animals burning and being put in ditches -- John Forsyth, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs Japan, Ontario farmers are now concerned because of their family ties with Europe, he said. Since the first diagnosed case in Essex, England, in February, there have been 1,400 herds of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats in the United Kingdom diagnosed with foot and mouth disease. In France, there have been two diagnosed dairy herds since March and in Holland, there have been 26 herds diagnosed. Suspected cases in Italy, Germany, Belgium , Spain and Denmark have been slaughtered but later turned up negative. Sanford said while England peaked six weeks into the .epidemic with 300 new cases a week, they are now experiencing 140 new cases a week. "That's really a good sign. They haven't announced it yet but they've turned the corner. The number of new cases is dropping like a stone," he said. Sanford said live animals are the biggest biosecurity risk for foot and mouth disease, followed by semen and then by people. "A little extra biosecurity is all that's required and that's mostly just common sense." he said. He recommended keeping new animals in quarantine for a period of time before , adding them to herds. "That animal that looked so good in the sales Karn shouldn't be allowed into the middle of your herd immediately. If you give yourself some breathing space, you might learn from the source there's a problem before you've infected your whole herd," he said. Sanford also recommended adopting as common practice restrictions to visitors in the barn. "Poultrysfarms have been doing that tor a long time and pig farms have been doing it for the last decade. Dairy's still got a long way to go." he said. Those who do enter the barn should be required to wash or shower. wear provided coveralls, boots or plastic booties and walk through regularly replaced foot baths at the entranceways to barns and pens. "Those things make a huge leap to make sure a person doesn't bring something into the barn," he said. He added that signs at farm entrances may not keep people out but will notch up awareness of the risks of transmitting the disease. ' "You are the frontline to preventing this disease from coming on your farm. You have the responsibility to protect your herd and your livelihoods," said Sanford. He said each farmer must decide whether or not to welcome European visitors or to take planned trips to Europe themselves but added there are precautions people can take if they decide to go ahead with their plans. "Simply washing. changing shoes and keeping out pf the barn for two weeks are very logical things to do that aren't at all draconian ," he said. What if foot and mouth happened here? By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Staff If foot and mouth disease is found on a local farm, a control area will be declared by the Minister of Agriculture with police stationed on all major roadways outside the area, close to 100 local farmers heard at a recent meeting in Seaforth about the highly contagious livestock disease. "If the signs and epidemiology suggest foot and mouth disease, there will be a quarantine and an order animals be destroyed before the disease is confirmed. If I'm wrong, you'll get a lot of money," said Dr. Jim Clark, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). He said the infected zone is considered to be three kilometres outside the farm with foot and mouth disease and the surveillance zone is considered to be 10 kilometres outside the farm. "And, it's a lockdown and all farms within five kilomtres will be suspected. There's no moving off the farm without a rigorous decontamination process," he said. "If Ontario is considered the control area, there will be police stationed outside the border at Quebec and at Manitoba." As well, a media blitz would be put into play to inform people about quarantined areas. "The press in Britain was reporting on the disease 24 to 48 hours before the govenment confirmed it," he said. Clark said the job of the CFIA is to protect the Canadian animal population. "I'm generally on your farm because there's a problem and I'm likely going to do something nasty on your farm," he said. Foot and mouth has devastated England socially and economically since the outbreak there three months ago, said Clark, adding that people have stopped visiting or going to restaurants and just stay home all the time. As well, John Forsyth, of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMFRA), said England has experienced an impact on every business related to agriculture. "They've had a major impact on rural life from business and tourism on down the line to vets, abbatoirs and equipment dealers," he said. Clark said that while the Canadian government would compensate farmers for any destroyed animals if an outbreak occurred in Canada, part of the recovery process before the outbreak was contained would be finding other sources of income. "If this happens, compensation isn't going to cut it. But, you should come up- with those answers now about what compensation would look like since that's a political answer and you don't want to wait until it happens to get those answers," he said. Clark said farmers would receive. market Quoted It's a lockdown and all farms within five kilometres will be suspected. There's no moving off the farm without a rigorous decontamination process"— Dr. rocess-- Dr. Jim Clark of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. value for animals with a maximum of $800 for swine and goats, $600 for sheep, $2,500 for cattle and $4,000 for elk and bison. He said vaccinations for foot and mouth rarely work because there are seven different strains of the disease with subtypes in each and vaccines have to be used for the exact strain to work. "In Canada, it would cost $1 billion every six months to vaccinate against foot and mouth. We don't try to vaccinate before the disease because it's very difficult and could be a waste of money," he said. Dr. Ernest Sanford, a swine specialist with the pharmaceutical company Boeringer Ingleheim in Burlington, said a vaccine being developed against the Type 0 Pan -Asia strain that is now sweeping through the United Kingdom has not been having much success in trials. • "The rumours are that the vaccination trials have not been effective against this strain," he said. Sanford added that vaccinated animals can still get infected with the disease without getting sick but can then spread the disease to other animals. Clinical signs of foot and mouth disease in cattle include a fall in milk production, fever', depression, blisters in the mouth which cause slobbering, blisters on the feet which cause lameness. In pigs. foot and mouth signs are fever and blisters. an unwillingness to move and squealing and resistance if you force them to move and sores that can cause hooves to slough off. "Pigs are the biggest virus factories and they shed a lot of virus. It can spread long before any clinical signs - that's the reason for all the culling going on." he said. Sheep and goats are difficult to diagnose because the signs are more subtle but include listlessness. going off feed. sudden laineness and a reluctance to stand. sitting in an unusual dogsitting style and sudden death in young lambs. Blisters in the mouth and feet are not common in sheep and goats. "In the U.K., one of the nig problems was that it's hard to diagnose in sheep and it spread mostly because of the movement of sheep in that country." said Sanford. Foot and mouth disease is killed by heat over 50 degrees Celsius (and will live forever if frozen), Ph that is either acid or alkaline (not neutral) and disinfectants that include vinegar. citric acid, sodium hydroxide and Virkon (which is the most effective). Not all disinfectants will work and all of them are less effective in organic matter like mud and feces. Clark said the virus likes cold and damp weather opposed to sun and heat. "And, that describes England pretty well. It's been raining in England for a year," he said. Clark asked farmers not to sit on any suspicions Of symptoms. "Tell us about it so we can get there as quickly as possible. Prompt reporting is your job. investigation i> my job," he said. Convincing trading partners that the disease is under control is part of the recovery period of an outbreak. Clark said. "We have to do a lot of blood testing afterwards. We've got to demonstrate we don't have the disease anymore." lie said.