USAHA News
United States Animal Health Association
Contact - Larry Mark - (703) 451-3954 - ldmark@erols.com

For immediate release:

SOUTH AMERICAN FMD REPORT PRESENTED TO USAHA COMMITTEE

     MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Oct. 18, 2006 -- An update on the status of foot-and-mouth disease
(FMD) eradication efforts in South America was provided to the U.S. Animal Health Association
(USAHA) Committee on International Standards at its meeting here this week.  

     FMD is a highly contagious viral infection primarily of cloven-hoofed animals, including
cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, water buffalo and deer and elk.  The disease is characterized by fever
and vesicles with subsequent erosions in the mouth, nares, muzzle, feet or teats.

     Phil Bradshaw, an Illinois pork producer and the North American Private Sector
Representative to the Inter-American Group for the Eradication of FMD (GIEFA), reported on
the initiative to eliminate FMD from the Western Hemisphere.  FMD is one of the most
contagious viruses known to man.

     Bradshaw said that although the economic and social impact caused by the FMD outbreak
in England in 2001 was well publicized, much less was heard about outbreaks in Argentina and
Uruguay during the same time period.  Bradshaw pointed out that because the largest population
of cattle in the world is in South America, this makes this area the greatest potential reservoir of
FMD virus.

     In reviewing the history of FMD eradication in the Western Hemisphere, Bradshaw noted
the last U.S. outbreak of the disease was in 1929.  This was followed by eradication of outbreaks
in Canada in 1952 and Mexico in 1954.  In 1981, Chili was declared free of FMD without
vaccination and, in 1994, Uruguay achieved this status, but then lost it in 2001.

     Reported infections in South America have ranged from greater than 4,300 in 2001 (with
most of those in Argentina and Uruguay) to 78 in 2005 (in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and
Venezuela).  Peru reported 26 cases in 2004 but none in the following year or the three previous.
Bolivia and Paraguay have not reported any cases during the 2004-2005 period although
infection was reported before then.  Bradshaw said that because surveillance quality may not be
good, there are undoubtedly more cases than those recorded.  

     The goal is to eradicate FMD from the Americas (with vaccine usage permitted in South
America) by the end of 2009.  Bradshaw said this is a very formidable challenge, requiring at
least 90 percent of all South American cattle to be vaccinated.  He said that the primary problem
is commitment and administration.  The Committee called for adequate funding to be provided to
fill FMD research gaps.

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