The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1909-01-07
The Foot And Mouth Disease.
CONTINUED from last week.)

Inc prevention OF loot and mouth
disease is a difficult matter on account
of the virulence Of the disease, the
ease with which the contagion may be
transported and the vitality of the
virus in the bodies of apparently re-
covered animals and in places that
have been contaminated by diseased
animals.
In former times, attempts to control
the disease were regarded as hopeless
and when Aphthous fever appeared in
a locality it was the custom of cattle
owners to inoculate their animals and
put them through the disease as quick
ly as possible. They Simply accepted
as inevitable the loss o. a large part
of the value of the herds and flocks in
infected regions.
The methods of prevention that have
been practiced have consisted: first In
general restrictions on trade in ami
mails of susceptible species and their
products and the products of farms in
infested districts, and the quarantine
of infected herds and premises until
danger shall have disappeared or,
second, in the method now being prac-
ticed In Pennsylvania, consisting in
the destruction Of infected herds and
the complete eradication, with the
greatest attainable promptness, of all
known centers of infection
The method of control by quaran-
tine has been practiced successfully in
a number of instances. On the other
hand. attempts to control foot and
mouth disease by this method have
often failed. 1t is exceedingly difficult
to quarantine eifectually against
Aphthous fever, and to attempt to do
so is to take great and unwarranted
risks 1t is necessary that such
quarantine shall be exceedingly rigid,
that it shall be faithfully observed TO
the minutest particular, and that 1t
shall be of long duration. Otherwise,
1t is not effective, or sufficient to pre-
vent the spread of disease. AS long
as premises are under quarantine on
account of foot and mouth disease
there can be no feeling of security in
the neighborhood, or even in distant
places, on account of the remarkable
facility with which this disease spreads
For these reasons, and as result of
considerable successful experience in
the use of the "stamping-out" method
for the control of foot and mouth dis
ease, there has developed. in recent
years, strong sentiment in favor of
the application of the second method
when the distribution of the disease is
such as to denote that it may be sue
cessfully controlled and eradicated by
this means. The stamping
method was applied with complete
success and at small cost, in proper
ton to the value of the work, in New
England in 1923.
If foot and mouth disease has been
permitted to become very prevalent in
a community, then it is not possible to
eradicate 1t by the stamping out meth
cd, and the very long, troublesome
and, in many respects, painful and
oppressive method of controlling the
disease by quarantine must be prac-
ticed. This means that the work would
drag on and quarantine restrictions
would have to be continued for years.
The successful application of the
stamping out method, even at very
large cost, is by far to be preferred.
II the diseased herds are promptly
slaughtered and the contamin ated
premises disinfected, quarantine reg
ulations may be of relatively short
duration On the other hand, II the
infected herds are held under quarar-
tine for recovery, the premises they
occupy are dangerous and may be a
source from which the disease may
spread for as long as six months, or
perhaps longer, after the recovery of
the diseased animals.
The character of quarantine that is
necessary for the control of foot and
mouth disease is indicated by the fol-
lowing order Of quarantine adopted by
the Pennsylvania State Livestock San.
itary Board:
upon the discovery of foot and
mouth disease, it is required that a
quarantine shall at once be establish
ed OF the affected animals and of all
cattle, sheep, goats and swine that it
Is believed may have been exposed.
Premises or objects occupied or con-
taminated by affected animals or their
products must be quarantined and
premises may be quarantned where
there Is reason to believe that there
may be danger of contamination by
foot and mouth disease.
81. Cattle, sheep, goats and swine
under quarantine on account of foot
and mouth disease must be kept abso-
lutely and wholly separate and apart
from all other animals must be kept
wholly apart from quarantined ami
mails.
"2. The quarantine is extended to
animals other than those originally
quarintined, II they are permitted to
come in contact with quarantined ami
mails or TO enter quarantined premis-