FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 December 1937, Page 3

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

BRITAIN’S SLAUGHTERING POLICY H. G. Hodder, “Daily Telegraph” and' “Morning Post” correspondent writes: — Foot-and-mouth disease, influenza of the domestic animal world, can spread . through a country or a continent so rapidly, jump a river or a sea so. easily, that at times one is almost tempted to think this sorry scourge is air-borne. Farmers throughout Eastern and South-Eastern England are now engulfed in what threatens to become the worst outbreak we have known* on our island for a dozen years. For a month reports of infected herds have been coming in- One day it is Sussex, the next Norfolk. Suddenly Essex is involved; a jump to Kent; cases confirmed in'Lincolnshire —so it goes on without apparent rhyme.or reason and’ despite rigorous rules of disinfection, isolation and destruction.

All these funeral pyres of fine cattle and pigs have to be paid for out of public funds, although there can be no effective compensation- for the dairy farmer who, perhaps over two generations, has built up a pedigree or commercial herd only to see every animal destroyed as suddenly and irrevocably as the haystack which goes up in spontaneous flames.

There are, I know, misgivings now among many farmers at this policy of carnage. Even those who have studied the disease and know the . theory which lies behind the policy are beginning to wonder if th ecure is not worse than having to endure the disease.

The layman has always found it a puzzling matter, and distasteful, but as the whole issue has now arisen again in a serious form it may be useful to give brief explanation of the history of the scourge. It is no new thing. It may even have ben known in early Greece and Rome. Certainly it was prevalent in Germany, Italy and France in the 17th and 18th centuries. As commerce grew in Europe the disease also spread through civilised countries. It reached England in 1839, although it is interesting to note that at that time the importation of foreign animals was prohibited. The theory then was that it had been brought by sheep intended for the consumption of ship’s crews, but not consumed on the voyage.

For a few years at the beginning of this century Britain was free from foot-and-mouth disease, which shows SLiclx a tiring is possible: but ever since it has kept cropping up with various degrees of intensity. The virulence of the disease has varied a. great deal. It is not in itself l fatal- Indeed, only some young animals die of it and nearly all not merely respond to treatment but “cure themselves.” In the early days, before there was any organised attempt to combat it, farmers would tie bags of salt on the feet of the sick animals.

NOT THE “MURRAIN.” Ail old drover at Stowmarket only last week told me that 50 years ago it was customary when a herd of bullocks was to be driven fyo a distant market to make an incision in their

throats and fill it with Stockhom tar as a preventative. There was, of course, in the days when the disease was allowed more or less to take its own course a much higher degree of natural immunity among the cattle than there is to-day-Fortunately, although the proper remedies are so hard to find, the diagnosis is almost immediate. There are the painful sores which form ’in the mouth, a rise of temperature, a slavering at the mouth and nostrils, with the affected animal unable to eat and therefore losing condition. A milking cow’s yield drops suddenly, and, indeed, even if she is treated and recovers she will never regain her milking qualities. This is vastly different from the cattle plague wh'iifli invaded England in 1865 and with which it is still sometimes confused- That murrain as it is usually called, was of Eastern origin and resulted in the death of the cattle in two or three days- In February of 1866 they were dying at the rate of 12,000 a week- “A day of humiliation” - in the churches was reported in the “Daily Telegraph” of that time, with a special prayer which began: “0 Lord God Almighty, whose are the cattle on a thousand hills and in whose hand is tile breath of every living thing, look down, we beseech Thee, in compassion upon Thy servants whom Thou has visited with a grievous murrain among our herds and flocks.” This plague, happily, has never returned, and even in the worst years foot-and-mouth disease has never caused so much havoc- For all that the losses, throughout the world through the disease during the past 50 years would total a sum of fantastic proportions. Canada has had its outbreaks and' passed them on to America, but this was in earlier years. It has been troublesome for a long time in India, Ceylon, Burma and the Straits Settlements. There have been epidemics in Australia. In 1892 the disease appeared in Mashonaland and worked its way through the Cape, but it was in a mild form, and the herds built up immunity so rapidly that it disappeared of its own accord. The main trouble was that it rendered draught bullocks unlit for work.

Rhodesia had outbreaks in 1931 and 1932, and more recently it has been active in Southern Rhodesia and Kenya. In many of these countries the virus, which is too minute to be separated from other bacteria, takes different forms and varies in intensity. There are even some forms which will attack sheep but do not affect cattle.

T R ANSMISSIO N T HEORIES. This gives some idea of the difficulty ct the research work whicT. has been proceeding in many countries in search of a remedy. In England three Departmental Committees have sat in the past 23 years and have spent well over £30,000 in -their investigations. A sum in the neighbourhood 1 of £250,000 lias been spent on research, and there is a. big experimental shition at Pirbright which has an annual grant of £16,500. Ono is bound to say that the results achieved, although considerable, are disappointing and largely negative. It had been hoped that at least some

serum would have been discovered capable of ensuring immunity to contacts. This, although no complete solution to the problem, would have done much to prevent lossesNor as yet has it been discovered in how many different ways the disease can be transmitted. Very naturally at first it was thought possible that farm rats, mice and other wild animals might be carriers. A very-long series of tests were made, but there were no real signs that rats suffer from or carry the disease. Even ticks and flies seem incapable of taking the virus and' infecting large animals. Cats sometimes catch it. Two cases are on record of human beings contracting it. The one most recent important discovery is that hedgehogs contract it easily, net merely by artificial means but through coming into contact with cows which are suffering from it.- This discovery of a small animal that is susceptible can be very helpful'in speeding up research.

So mysterious have many outbreaks been that it has been eurmised that they must have been caused. by migrating birds'. This theory however, has been somewhat discounted by research workers. They have tried by a variety of means actually to inoculate birds and also to infect them in more- ordinary ways- Wild ducks, sea-gulls, jiouse martins and sparrows have been subjected to the tests, but they remained ’unaffected by the viius and were incapable of carrying it.

Thus tile scientific investigators are forced back on the earlier and proved theory that the disease is largely spread by the movements of undiagnosed cases of farm animals and human beings who have been in contact with them. There is also a risk from imported straw, fodder and even packing materials. What is certain is that the disease seems to sweep across Europe periodically, and that even the sea which intervenes does not seem tc prevent its landing in Britain. ** -.1...

USE OF INOCULATION.

From the brief outline I have given if. will be seen that failing any true cure or guaranteed immunity, any method of dealing with the problem must be. largely a question of opinion. The method which we adopt is now well known. Diseased animals and all ethers which have come into contact with them are slaughtered compulsorily. Movement of all farm stock within a radius of 15 miles of the outbreak is suspended for three weeks and the standstill is renewed if more cases occur.

In the United States. Scandinavia and Switzerland similar policies of slaughter and disinfection are employed. In France, Holland and Belgium, where disastrous outbreaks are now occurring, there is slaughtering, but the animals are isolated and some protective serum is used. Germany employs the well-known ring-implung system- The farms are isolated, and- all animals are inoculated with a small amount of virus to give I hem a mild attack of the disease and immunity afterwards for a short period. Until this year this was fairly effective, but the method has been sorely tested during the past few months.

Some similar system would save the slaughter on our farms. The objection

is that it is merely a .palliative. The fact that foot-arid-nioutti disease was tolerated in Britain might rob our stock of its prestige the world over. This is an important point at a time when the export trade in pedigree stock is going up. . This present outbreak is disastrous in the dislocation which it is causing to the livestock industry, which had been showing good signs of recovery. But farming must have such unexpected ups and downs. It is the task of the research workers to redouble their efforts to provide the antidote.