South American countries were hit by infection in late summer 2000, said Dr. Coats. Paraguay was struck first in early August, followed by outbreaks in Uruguay and Colombia. Argentinean officials blamed their country's outbreak on cattle smuggled from Paraguay. An Argentinean newspaper reported that as many as 20,000 head were illegally smuggled in from Paraguay. When a Brazilian dairy was hit by the disease, Brazil's minister of agriculture reported that he suspected bioterrorism, as the virus was of a different strain than the one detected in Paraguay and Argentina.
Brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef.
Animals in the affected area were euthanized and buried within 24 hours, which stopped the spread of disease. Uruguayan officials and producers had prepared for such an outbreak ahead of time by setting up funds to pay producers for their livestock losses. In the simulated outbreak, a South Texas producer collected contaminated wastefood from a foreign ship and fed it to his pigs. Within two weeks, routine livestock marketing and movement could have spread the disease across Texas and into several states and Canada. We're monitoring the movement of FMD closely.