Foot and Mouth Disease

By the time FMD is controlled in 2001, 6,094,139

animals were slaughtered, and the disease cost
Great Britain an estimated £2.4-£4.1bn
($4.5-7.6 billion US dollars).
 Mad Cow Disease
• Disease agent is a prion, or
a protein bent out of shape
• Spread from feeding
animals bone meal
• When found in US, many
countries banned
importation of US beef
• Human variant? Creutzfeldt-
Jakob disease
 Organophosphate Poisoning
• Deans/ Meijer Recall- 2002
• Where: Meijer Stores
All Illinois Stores
All Indiana stores  
• What: The recall is due to
possible contamination
involving cows eating from a
field sprayed with pesticides.
Meijer, as a precaution to
protect the public, is initiating
its own recall.
• Who: Customers are asked
not to drink the milk and return
it to store for full refund. 
 Monkey Pox
• Gambian rats on same shipment as prairie dogs
• Rats gave Monkey pox to prairie dogs
• Prairie dogs gave Monkey pox to humans
• 37 confirmed cases nationwide, 7 in Indiana

Cute little prairie dog Not so cute little lesion

Disease transmission
• Animal to Animal
• Aerosol
• Fecal/Oral
• Fomites
• Zoonotic
• Vectors
 Animal to Animal
• Like humans,
animals get
diseases from each
other
– Physical contact
– Sharing food/water
sources
– Sharing medical
equipment
 Aerosol
• Pseudorabies virus
can travel more than
2 mi. though air!
• Germs can float
through air and can
reach animals by:
– Sick animals
sneezing, coughing,
breathing on other
animals
– Ventilation systems
 Fecal/Oral

Chi Chi’s contaminated green onions

ring a bell? 510 confirmed cases and 3
deaths by November 6, 2003!!!
 Fomites
• Inanimate objects on
which diseases can live
• Example- Your animal
has a cold and coughs
on your pencil
• The germs from your
animal are now on the
pencil
• Do you still want to
chew on your pencil?
 Zoonotic
• Diseases that can
be passed from
animal to human
• Examples-
– Rabies
– Club lamb fungus
– Ringworm
– Monkey pox
– BSE????
 Vectors
Infected animal Vector Healthy animal
 3 aspects of
Animal Biosecurity

• Traffic Control
• Sanitation
• Isolation
 Traffic Control
• Minimize who
comes on and off
farm
– Delivery trucks
– Milk haulers
– Wild animals
• OR… who comes
into contact with
animals
– Neighbors
– Protective clothing
 Sanitation
• Keep it clean!
– Animal stalls should
be cleaned
– Vaccinate livestock
– Personal hygiene-
washing hands!
– Avoid handling sick
animals
– Wear protective
clothing
 Isolation
This is the opposite of isolation!
 Isolation
• Keep new or show animals:
– In an area totally separate from other
animals
– A month is best
– To make sure new/show animal is not
carrying a disease
Why care about Animal
Biosecurity?

• Impact on human health

• Impact on animal health
• Economics
 Human Health

• Safe food supply needed for

healthy population
• Food supply an easy target
• Not many people can produce
own food if US food supply
compromised
Animal Health

• Sick animals=low
production
• Mass death
 Economics

• No meat/milk/cheese/eggs
to sell means no profits
• Illness=fear ex.- BSE and
importation of beef stopped
• Who HAS safe food can
charge a bundle for it-
organic or “grass fed beef”
can =$6.00/lb