Inside that black duffel bag at Comet's feet one afternoon this week was a hefty slab of Serrano ham, vacuum-sealed and being brought back from Spain. Soon the Serrano was at the bottom of a USDA garbage can, alongside a salami, a sausage and some other luncheon meat. Yards away, a businessman who had just returned from a military base in the English countryside stood impatiently in his socks as inspectors scrubbed the mud off his hiking boots and disinfected them with a bleach solution. An outbreak here could cost billions of dollars in a single year, agriculture officials warn. Already, there are forecasts of rising prices for luxury leather goods coming into the United States.
Concern ranges beyond the barnyard and big farming states.
Several overseas youth trips sponsored by 4-H and other groups in Maryland have been postponed or canceled until the threat passes. Virginia officials have banned the importation of horses and put further restrictions on herd dogs coming from infected countries. Although neither dogs nor horses are susceptible to the virus, they can transmit it. Michigan State University has canceled a three-week tour of agricultural sites in England and Ireland, according to news wires, while other schools, including Penn State and the University of California at Davis, are restricting foreign visitors. Ninety international students arriving this week for agricultural internships at the University of Minnesota, for example, have been placed in quarantine for seven days.