CONTROL OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE IN BRITAIN.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 43, Issue 4, 20 October 1931, Page 308

CONTROL OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE IN BRITAIN.

THE OFFICIAL SYSTEM AND ITS OPERATION.

At the request of one of the breed societies of the Dominion we print below particulars of the system formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture in Britain for dealing with suspected cases and actual outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease. The matter is extracted from the Annual Report of Proceedings under the Disease of Animals Act, for the Year 1928.

Whenever foot-and-mouth disease is suspected to exist either in an animal or in a carcass on any premises in Great Britain, the owner or person in charge of the animal or carcass is required by law immediately to notify the fact to the local police, who are required at once to inform the Ministry by telegram. The police are also required to inform the local authority concerned the County or Borough Council. It is the duty of the local authority to cause a veterinary inquiry to be made forthwith into the report, and meantime a notice is served upon the occupier of the premises, the effect of which is to apply thereto the rules to be observed on an infected place to prevent the spread of infection.. If the Veterinary Inspector finds that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that foot-and-mouth disease exists, he is required to issue a certificate to that effect, whereupon the movement of animals out of, into, or within the area lying within a radius of five miles of the premises concerned is prohibited pending a definite and conclusive diagnosis by a whole-time Veterinary Inspector of the Ministry.

The Ministry, on receiving telegraphic information from the police of the suspected existence of the disease, instructs one of its whole-time Veterinary Inspectors to proceed forthwith to the suspected case. Officers are on duty day and night available to issue these instructions so that there may be no delay in diagnosis. If the Inspector, after examining the animal or carcass, is of opinion that disease exists, he has power to extend.the area already referred to. in which the movement of animals is prohibited from one of five-miles radius to fifteen miles round the infected premises, or in certain circumstances to an area of even greater radius e.g., where there is reason to believe that a market has been infected. The Veterinary Inspector of the Ministry reports the result of his examination to the Ministry’s headquarters by telephone.

On confirmation of the existence of foot-and-mouth disease an Order is made by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries declaring an area lying within .a radius of fifteen miles of the infected premises to be a “ foot-and-mouth disease infected area ” for the purpose of the Foot-and-mouth Disease (Infected Areas Restrictions) Order of 1925. No movement of animals out of that area is permitted for any purpose (including export), and movement of animals into and within the area is controlled by license, only necessary movement being allowed. All markets of animals within the area are prohibited, except those for fat stock, which may be held outside a radius of five miles from any infected premises by license of the local authority. and subject to veterinary inspection. All dogs within five miles of any infected place have to be kept under control, and hunting in the area is prohibited. (This Order is prepared at the Ministry’s headquarters immediately a case is reported, so that there is no delay in issuing the Order if and when the case is confirmed.)

If there is no spread of the disease, the above-mentioned restrictions are maintained for a period of fourteen, days, when the area is reduced to one of fivemiles radius from the infected premises. The area is further reduced to twomiles radius after a lapse of a further seven days, and this two-mile area is entirely released after a further seven days i.e., after a period of twenty-eight days from the date of the confirmation of the outbreak. In the event of disease appearing on other premises in the area, movement restrictions may be extended for a longer period, according to the circumstances. Larger infected areas may be scheduled if one or more markets are involved, or if, for any other reason, it is considered necessary to prohibit the movement of animals over a wider area than one of fifteen-miles radius in order to prevent the risk of the spread of infection.

The policy of the Ministry is to slaughter immediately all affected animals and also those which are or have been recently in contact with the affected

animals or otherwise directly exposed to infection. Compensation is paid to the owners of the animals slaughtered equivalent to the full market value of the animals. The object of such slaughter is to destroy as quickly as possible the manufacturers and potential manufacturers of foot-and-mouth disease virus. The manufacturers of virus are the affected animals, and the potential manufacturers are the animals which have been directly exposed to infection. This slaughter is, in the majority of cases, completed within twenty-four hours of the report of disease being received by the Ministry. Preliminary disinfection is proceeded with immediately, and a thorough disinfection of the premises is carried out immediately after slaughter has been completed. Infected premises are subject to the rules contained in Article 7 of the Foot-and-mouth Disease Order of 1928, which are maintained in force for a period of about eleven weeks from the date of slaughter.

Within the infected area a patrol staff of whole-time Veterinary Inspectors of the Ministry are employed to visit and inspect all stock in the immediate vicinity of an outbreak in order to discover any hidden centres of disease, and for the purpose of tracing suspected contacts to the diseased animals which have been moved from the infected premises during the preceding period of danger. Inspectors engaged, on this work have very explicit instructions to carry out a thorough disinfection of their clothes after each inspection. Inspectors actually engaged on an infected place are not employed in this patrol work.

Every attempt is made to trace the origin of infection, both as regards the primary outbreak and any subsequent ramifications. It will be seen from the foregoing that the success of the measures adopted against foot-and-mouth disease must, as in most contagious diseases of animals, depend in a great degree, firstly, upon the promptitude with which notification is made to the authorities, and, secondly, on the efficiency with which the restrictions on movement are carried out. Public notices and placards are exhibited in all suitable places from time to time, and distributed to stockowners calling their attention to their duty of prompt notification of suspected cases. Failure to notify may be, and usually is, followed by a substantial reduction in the amount of compensation paid to the owner of animals slaughtered, irrespective of. any penalty imposed by the Courts. It is therefore to the interest of every stockowner to report suspected cases of disease without delay.

It is recognized that the proper procedure is to deal effectively with the disease with the least possible interference with trade, but it is obvious that the necessary restrictions, such as the stoppage of dangerous markets, &c., in dealing with a disease so extraordinarily contagious as foot-and-mouth disease cannot be framed without imposing considerable restrictions on trade.

The operations against foot-and-mouth disease have been the subject of a thorough investigation and consideration by departmental Committees in 1912, 1922, and 1924-25, and the measures described above are in agreement with the recommendations of the last Committee, whose report was issued on the 2nd February, 1925 (Cmd. 2350). These measures have been accepted and supported loyally by British agriculturists as necessary, having regard to the present knowledge of the disease to effect its eradication. Meanwhile, the Foot-and-mouth Disease Research Committee appointed by the Minister of Agriculture in 1924, consisting of eminent scientists, is actively pursuing its labours to extend the knowledge of the disease and thereby, if possible, to. improve the methods of dealing with it.

“Herbage Abstracts.’’ — We have received from the Imperial Bureau of Plant Genetics (Herbage Plants), Aberystwyth, Wales, the first issue of its new quarterly publication bearing the above title. Herbage Abstracts, it is advised, will deal with herbage and certain forage crops not only from the point of view of the plantbreeder, but also from that of the agronomist. Such subjects as field trials, seedproduction, weed-control, and all aspects of grassland and pasture management will be dealt with rather fully, while information regarding morphology, physiology, ecology, &c., will be introduced when it is considered desirable. Each number will also contain a section of miscellaneous notes, short extracts from official reports, and proceedings of conferences, which might be of value to the worker on herbage and forage crops and general grassland. The subscription is is. 6d. per copy or ss. per annum.