{"id":458,"date":"2011-02-20T09:50:13","date_gmt":"2011-02-20T13:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/?p=458"},"modified":"2011-05-17T11:30:47","modified_gmt":"2011-05-17T15:30:47","slug":"global-events-prompt-local-vigilance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/2011\/02\/20\/global-events-prompt-local-vigilance\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Events Prompt Local Vigilance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #800000\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_459\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/files\/2011\/02\/World-Melting.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-459\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-459\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/files\/2011\/02\/World-Melting-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/files\/2011\/02\/World-Melting-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/files\/2011\/02\/World-Melting-819x1024.jpg 819w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-459\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image created by Louis Bedor III<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sometimes I am asked why we should worry about foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the US when we have been free of the disease since 1929.\u00a0 News reports, feature articles, and press releases circulating in recent months provide ample justification.<\/p>\n<p>To illustrate, I have reprinted an abridged recent release from the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) below.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000\">TAHC Officials Urge Awareness of Global Foot and Mouth Disease Threat<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000\">AUSTIN \u2013 The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) reminds Texas producers, marketers and veterinarians that maintaining a Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) free U.S.A. requires constant awareness and vigilance.\u00a0 Anyone involved with livestock needs to recognize the general signs of FMD and how to report suspicious symptoms. FMD is not contagious to people, but the viral disease that affects cattle, hogs and otheris characterized by the presence of vesicles in the mouth, or on the muzzle, teats and feet. The FMD virus can accidentally be carried on people\u2019s clothing, footwear and vehicles from one farm location to another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000\">\u201cIn today\u2019s world where people travel and trade so much internationally, we need to remember that the introduction of FMD to Texas livestock is an ongoing threat. Producers should always be aware of who\u2019s coming in contact with their livestock and where those people may have been previously,\u201d said Dr. Dee Ellis, Texas\u2019 State Veterinarian. The introduction of FMD would create severe economic and trade implications for Texas producers, added Dr. Ellis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000\">Vigilance and sound biosecurity practices are the best first-line of defense against FMD. Good practices include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000\">Understanding the animal disease status of foreign countries when visiting farms or ranches<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000\">Thorough cleaning and disinfection of footwear and other clothing after foreign travel<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000\">Following USDA APHIS and US Customs &amp; Border Patrol restrictions for import of animal products<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000\">Controlling international visitor contact with Texas livestock species and agriculture facilities<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000\">FMD is present in a number of continents including South America, Africa and Asia, with recent outbreaks occurring in South Korea, Japan and Bulgaria. FMD was last diagnosed on U.S. soil in 1929.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes I am asked why we should worry about foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the US when we have been free of the disease since 1929.\u00a0 News reports, feature articles, and press releases circulating in recent months provide ample justification. To &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/2011\/02\/20\/global-events-prompt-local-vigilance\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":439,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15823,15824,15825,15826],"tags":[15919,15858,15860,15918,15917],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fmd-news","category-just-my-thoughts","category-news-worthy-mentionables","category-one-health","tag-cloven-hoofed-animals","tag-fmd","tag-foot-and-mouth-disease","tag-the-texas-animal-health-commission","tag-usda-aphis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/439"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":515,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions\/515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jmsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}