The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1914-11-12
THE FIGHT AGAINST FOOT
AND-M0UTH DISEASE

| Washington, d. G. Nov. l6. The
Secretary of Agriculture has issued
the following statement regarding the
quarantine for foot and. mouth disease:
The present outbreak of the foot-and-
mouth disease, which i, one of the
most contagious and destructive dis.
eases of cattle, swine and sheep, ex-
ceeds in area affected any of the five
previous outbreaks in this Country.
Unless the infection can be immediate-
y localized and quickly eradicated, it
threatens untold losses among live
stock
1t is possible to cure the external
symptoms, but during the process of
attempting to cure one sick animal the
chances are that hundreds of Others
may be infected. The treatment or
killing of single animal in herd
was tried in an outbreak and did not
prove effective, for the reason that the
remainder of the herd soon became af-
fected and had to be killed.
AS result of the five outbreaks in
this country, and other disastrous epi-
denies of the disease in Europe and
Great Britain, veterinary authorities
OF the United States are agreed that
the only method of combating the dis
ease is to stop all movement of stock
and material which have been subject.
ed to any danger of infection, and to
kill off without delay all herds in which
the disease has gained any foothold.
This enables the authorities to eradi-
cate affected herds and TO isolate and
hold under observation all suspected
herds.
For these reasons, the Department of
Agriculture has already quarantined
ten states for the foot-and-mouth dis.
ease. The Federal quarantine pre-
vents all interstate movement of stock
and materials likely to carry the infec-
ton. AT the same time, the State au-
thorlcies are imposing local guarantees
which prevent the passage of animals
from farms or localities known to be
infected to other localities in the same
State in which the disease has no ap-
peared. Each infected herd, as rapidly
as the disease is discovered, is killed
and the dead animals buried in GOV.
ering of lime. The skins of the ami
mails are slashed so as to permit the
rapid action of the lime.
The owner of the slaughtered ami
mails is reimbursed on basis of the APP
praised value of the herd, the apprais-
er being appointed by the State. The
expense of the whole process of con-
demnation and dsinfection is divided |
equally between the Federal and State
Governments.
The present outbreak first appeared
in southern Michigan. How it was
introduced there is not known. Ship
ments of diseased hogs from this place
which passed to Chicago are believed
to be responsible for the infection of
the pens in the Union Stockyards. !,
Once the yards became infected there |
was danger that every shipment of live
stock through Chicago to other parts
of the country might pick up the germs
of the disease and spread the contagion.
These shipments, composed largely of
feeders and stockers, were sent to
farms for fattening and did not remain
in Chicago long enough for the disease
to show itself in external symptoms.
Some of the cattle, carrying the con.
tagion, after shipment develop exter-
nal LESSONS and this accounts for the
outbreak of the disease in States as far
apart as Iowa and Massachusetts. For
this reason large force of Federal in
spectors is now running down every
shipment and examining the animals
or herds at their place Of delivery,
At present the chief danger lies in
the possibility of there being concealed
sources of injection. Every effort is
being made by State and Federal auth
critics, not only to trace suspicious
shipments, but to convince farmers Of
the seriousness of the disease and the
extreme ease with which it Is commu-
nicated, and to urge upon them to re-
port at once to State or Federal auth
critics all suspicious cases of sore
mouths or lameness,