FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18585, 18 December 1923, Page 9

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.

SOURCE OF THE INFECTION GERMANY SUSPECTED. A. and N.Z. LONDON, Dec.. 16.The Daily Express says the belief is gaining ground that the germs of foot and mouth disease were imported into the United Kingdom in fodder from Germany. There is reason to think that the Board of Agriculture is investigating on these lines. It is pointed out that thousands of tons of fodder are • imported from Holland. The board knows of cases in which Dutch dealers supplement the supplies from Germany.

HOW DISEASE IS FOUGHT.

RUTHLESS SLAUGHTER OF STOCK.

Little or nothing is known about foot and mouth disease itself, because it is due, theoretically, to a virus which defies the microscope and the bacterial filter. It attacks cattle most readily, but sheep, pigs, and goats are susceptible, nor _are horses, dogs, cats, and even human beings entirely immune. The period of infection varies from two to ten days, and > one of the great difficulties of the situation lies in the failure of farmers to recognise the earliest signs, and their tendency, in some cases to ignore them. The symptoms to the eye of the layman are not, in the early stages, unlike those of influenza; that is to say, the animals look out of condition, refuse their food and develop a high temperature. Then come developments that are unmistakable : • the affected beast goes lame, slavers at the mouth, and makes a curious and symptomatic sound with its lips. Sometimes sheep are unable to rise, and cuttle shake their feet in a .curious fashion. Vesicles appear and dispel the last doubts.

Drastic Regulations. ; A : British Government regulations dealing* with the disease, which is described officially as a contagious and ; eruptive fever, are comprehensive and drastic. It. is the farmer's first duty, and a heavy penalty attaches to neglect, to notify the police; the police notify the Ministry the Ministry telephones or telegraphs to its local inspector. , He proceeds immediately to the farm, and if he finds that foot ana mouth" has broken out, advises the Ministry, which immediately proclaims an infected area with a radius of 15 miles, the farm being the centre of the circle; Affected animals are immediately vala|ea, their value being a health one that is to say, the farmer, in return for doing his duty, is allowed the current marxet. value of sound animals. Then the butchers are called in, and, under the present * humane regulations, slaughter is carried out with the humane killer. The killing is not limited to infected animals. It extends to those that have been in contact with them, because where cattle are separated by a hedge, they frequently come as close together as possible• for companionship, and .so infection spreads. The carcases : are incinerated on special field furnaces. The whole of the countryside round an infected area is held up. Save by special permission, it is forbidden to move an animal across a public road from one field to another, and as an infected area must be proclaimed without notice, it will .be understood that considerable confusion results. The local market is closed, and it is only possible to send healthy animals to slaughter under certain conditions, incuding a time limit. Markets, slaughterhouses, farm buildings, ' and tho rest must be rigidly disinfected. So'virulent is the undetected germ, that cattle driven down a country lane some hours after infected : animals have passed will .develop the disease.

Infection from Continent. Where : does the trouble come from? There is no certain answer to this question, although Western Europe is undoubtedly the seat of infection. Some of the authorities believe that the virus is air-borne, that the wisps of slaver from affected animals in Germany, Belgium,' and France are carried by favourable winds to infect British fields. Others hold that migrant birds bring the infectiofi: they alight among diseased cattle overseas, and when they continue, their journey bring* the virus on their feet. Professor Shipley expresses hie belief that the rat, which conveys bubonic plague to man and equine influenza to horses, is one of the disseminators of the virus. ' ' - i r '- Hitherto the British policy of slaughter A and compensation has borne fruit. Two years ago it was calculated that this system of slaughter, treated as an insurance, worked out at a premium of 8d per £100 of the value of stock in the United Kingdom. The cost of " foot and mouth " on the Continent, where , they cure rather than kill, is prodigious. In two years, three departments of France lost £5,000,000 through foot and mouth disease In Spain, during one year, the total loss J was estimated at £7.000,000. The losses to Belgium and Germany have not been' computed, but they are immense. Everybody knows that the trouble is curable, and it is the custom of some farmers on the Continent, when . they have an outbreak, to • smear the slaver from the mouths of infected . beasts on 'to the mouths :■ of sound ones jso as to run the * disease through the farm stock and make one cure of it._ The treatment then lies in the use of disinfectants and in keeping the animals warm and comfortable. Even then, if _ the outbreak be a severe one, they die in large numbers, often as a result of intestinal troubles; if the attack be a mild one they go out of condition for a long time. Cows that have just calved lose their milk bullocks • th!*i are ready for the market go right out of condition. : x ■ . '