foot and mouth disease question

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I don't get it. They've had foot and mouth disease all over south America for as long as I can remember. That's why the US pays Panama not to build a road across the Darien Gap--the only stretch between Alaska and Tierra Del Fuego where the Pan American Highway is discontinuous. If the highway were built there, foot and mouth disease would spread from south America to Central and North America in very short order.

So how do the Colombians, Venezuelans, Brazilians, Peruvians, etc deal with foot and mouth disease? They vaccinate their stock.

I am a vegetarian; have been since 1976. But for you folks who raise animals, why don't you just vaccinate your stock?

What am I missing here? Seriously, I'm sure there must be a reason, but I don't know what it is.

JOJ

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2001

Answers

As I understand it, and as best I can put it from my layman's understanding, the vaccine itself can produce HMD in some instances where there has been none. Vaccine research has been on going for decades, and the US may be close to a better one, but it is not ready to be released just yet.

Also, once vaccinated the herds and animals loose their "disease-free" status and cannot be exported for any reason.

While it sounds that the vaccine is better than nothing, it too has it's own set of problems.

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2001


JOJ, the last I knew, the vaccine was not even available to us ordinary people. And yes, your animals will test positive for F&M, it is not a life time thing, and there are I think 7 different stains. I am not sure if we are just being fed a line of @#@# or what. Our "experts" on the other forum might be able to give you better answers, but the last I knew they were getting most of their info from the "mainstream" press and I have begun to doubt the reliability of that information. (now don't I just begin sounding like a right-wing cynic???)

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2001

I know nothing about FM&D, but the information that's been disseminated says that there are a whole bunch (7? 9?) of different strains and each would take a different vaccine and there's no way to tell which strain your animals would be exposed to. Is that true? I have no idea!

-- Anonymous, April 21, 2001

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