Scientists at the Imperial College School of Medicine in London have called for a policy of ring culling, a system in which all livestock within about a mile of an infected animal are killed. Extensive culling is sadly the only option for controlling the current British epidemic and it is essential that the control measures now in place are maintained during the long decay phase of the epidemic to ensure eradication, the authors say in a study appearing Friday in the journal Science. The authors are Neil Ferguson, Christl Donnelly and Roy Anderson, all researchers in the department of infectious disease epidemiology at the St. Mary's campus of the Imperial College School of Medicine. It since has affected cows and sheep and has spread to parts of France, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Affected animals develop blisters on the mouth, nose, feet and teats.
The disease causes fever, shivering, weight loss and reduces milk yield. Among young animals, the disease is frequently fatal, but mature animals usually survive. The virus can be carried by the wind or spread through contact with the saliva, milk or dung of affected animals. New infections can arise from the virus from contaminated clothing of people working with infected animals. Dogs, cats, poultry and wildlife can all spread the disease through contact with the virus.