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Science Friday > Archives > 2001 > May > May 4, 2001:

Hour One: Animal Epidemics

As foot and mouth disease continues its European tour, many folks are wondering if and when the virus will visit the United States. Travelers coming from Europe have their shoes disinfected, but will that keep our cows and pigs free of the disease? Could vaccination help?

To date, almost 1,500 cases of foot and mouth have been identified in the United Kingdom. However, the impact is far greater than just 1,500 animals. When one infected animal is found, entire herds of cattle may be slaughtered in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

Foot and mouth has also been found in countries including France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Saudia Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. How would the United States respond if foot and mouth were found on a farm here? Keeping serious animal diseases out of the United States is the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) Veterinary Services unit. Each year, USDA receives and tests 300-400 reports of possible foreign animal diseases in the United States. With the current focus on these animal diseases, the President's proposed budget shows an increase for APHIS, providing $849 million in funding, up $174 million over 2001. The budget also strengthens the Agriculture Quarantine Inspection Program (AQI), which helps protect the U.S. against animal diseases like foot-and-mouth and BSE, by requesting $13 million in additional program support.

Muddy shoes are removed for cleaning by an inspector at Dulles Airport. (USDA/Ken Hammond)

Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman recently announced the authorization of an additional $32 million to hire some 350 additional personnel at critical ports and international airports to protect against pests and diseases. However, if foot and mouth manages to sneak by those inspectors, the number of people necessary to control an outbreak expands dramatically. In fact, one study says a serious outbreak could only be stopped using the combined strength of all the federal disaster agencies and the military.

An outbreak could be devastating to a state such as North Carolina, which depends on agriculture for a good deal of its income. The cash receipts for all farm commodities totaled $ 6.7 billion in 1999 in the state. Of those, about 55 % were due to animal-related commodities.

In this special remote broadcast of Science Friday, live from Raleigh, North Carolina, we'll take a look at animal epidemics. How do diseases travel from farm to farm, and across continents? What role do people play in the process? We'll try to navigate the overlapping roles of local, state and federal animal health agencies, and talk about how vulnerable our agricultural resources might be to a disease outbreak.

Call in with your thoughts and comments at 1-800-989-8255, and share your opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required)

Listen to this program in RealAudio!

Guests:
David Turner Marshall
North Carolina State Veterinarian
Raleigh, North Carolina

Peter Cowen
Professor, Epidemiology
College of Veterinary Medicine
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina

Thomas Holt
United States Department of Agriculture
Raleigh, North Carolina

Barbara Sherry
Associate Professor, Virology
College of Veterinary Medicine
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina

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Related Links:
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Animal Health, Emerging Animal Disease (AHEAD)
Plum Island Animal Disease Center, USDA
National Animal Disease Center
North Carolina Dept of Agriculture & Consumer Services
Veterinary Public Health