The Rural Voice, 2001-05, Page 51Farmers pack hall
to hear about
Foot and Mouth
The level of concern over the
potential for Foot and Mouth Disease
(FMD) to enter Canada was evident
when a standing -room -only crowd
packed the Elmwood Community
Centre, April 17 to hear speakers
give the latest information on the
disease.
About 300 farmers attended the
last of a series of six meetings across
the province what drew more than
2000 people, far more than the
expected attendance of 800, said
Cathy Lennon, general manager of
the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency
who chaired the meeting.
John Forsyth OMAFRA program
manager of cattle and swine, pointed
out FMD is much more widespread
than just the current outbreak
affecting most of Asia and Russia,
Targe parts of Africa and major
countries in South America. With
modern travel it takes only six hours
to get from some infected countries
to North America instead of a
lengthy boat trip when FMD last
affected Canada in 1952, he said. As
well, many Ontario farmers have
close ties to European countries that
are affected by the current outbreak.
Dr. John Derbyshire, who taught
virology at University of Guelph
explained the virus that causes the
disease is among the smallest of
viruses and is more resistant to
environmental conditions, making it
perhaps the most contagious of all
animal viruses. It takes only 20
particles of the virus to infect an
animal.
It's RNA -based instead of DNA -
based, which means it changes more
rapidly, Derbyshire said. Indeed the
virus at the end of an epidemic may
be different than the virus that began
it.
Infected animals start shedding
the virus before they show any of the
symptoms, which makes it hard to
prevent the spread of the disease.
Animals are infected by inhaling
or ingesting the virus, Dr. Derbyshire
News
said. (Pigs usually get the disease
through feed, cattle and sheep by
inhaling.) The virus multiplies in the
throat and spreads through the blood
stream. It causes blisters in the mouth
and between the toes.
Sheep and goats have relatively
mild versions of the disease so it's
often hard to tell they have it, but
they can multiply the virus and give
it to other animals. In Britain the
disease was spread by shipment of
sheep from infected parts of the
country to non-infected areas.
Dr. Rob Tremblay of Boehringer
Ingleheim added that cattle are most
infected by the disease with pigs next
most susceptible. Cattle will show a
loss of milk production, a high fever
and depression. They develop blisters
in their mouths that burst, turning to
painful sores that make them salivate.
They can have blisters on the teats.
On their feet they develop blisters
and sores between their toes and
around the coronet with soreness out
of proportion to the size of the sores.
More than 90 per cent of cattle
survive, but FMD is so debilitating it
makes raising the animal
uneconomic.
Pigs suffer a sudden fever and
depression with blisters on their
snout and tongue. The sores on their
feet may make it too painful for them
to get up. They may be squealing and
lame.
Sheep show more subtle
symptoms though they may have a
sudden onset of lameness and be
reluctant to get up, choosing to "dog
sit" on their haunches instead. There
may also be blisters in the mouth but
they are Tess conspicuous.
Sheep in Britain showed a
listlessness and were off their feed.
Sudden death of lambs from heart
failure was also experienced.
With FMD so widespread around
the world, farmers need to be vigilant
against the spread from more than
just Britain and European countries,
Tremblay said.
The FMD virus is unusual in that
it can survive for long periods
without a host. It can live for up to 20
weeks in stored hay, for instance,
which is one reason why feed and
hay are also destroyed on a farm
where there has been an outbreak. It
can survive 14 days in a cattle stall,
for 39 days in urine and for weeks to
months in manure (longer in a pit,
shorter in a manure pile). It can
survive from a few days to a few
weeks in soil and survives freezing
and refrigeration, but not heat, which
means it can be killed by
pasteurization.
Infected animals shed the virus in
all bodily fluids and it can be carried
in the meat of infected animals. It can
spread up to 60 km overland in the
wind and 300 km by sea.
Yet for all this hardiness, it can be
killed by weak alkaline or acidic
solutions like a 1:1 ration of vinegar
and water.
Farmers should protect their farms
by increasing biosecurity, Tremblay
advised. "The first line of defence on
your farm is you," he said. Post
warning signs asking people to check
with you before entering your
property. Tell people where they can
contact you if you need to do
business so they won't enter your
premises.
Don't be afraid to ask all visitors
if they have visited a country where
FMD has been found. If the answer is
yes, ask people to come back in two
weeks. That way the low possibility
the person might actually have been
in contact with the disease in another
country will be reduced even lower.
Visitors should have clean boots
and coveralls. It's probably best to
keep overalls and inexpensive rubber
boots for such occasions, Tremblay
said. You might consider using a
footbath but it's really more a
statement about your concern for
biosecurity than it is an effective
solution, he said.
While the prime focus of
biosecurity now is FMD, it will also
help protect your farm from other
diseases that are known to exist in
Canada, he said.
If FMD is found on your farm,
don't leave the farm, he said. If you
call your vet and he diagnoses the
disease, he shouldn't leave your farm
either. You or the vet must call the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency's
Animal Health and Production
Program.
MAY 2001 47