Foot and Mouth

With all the fervor going on throughout the world concerning finding a vaccine for the corona virus, we may forget that there are other medical efforts and other vaccine research under way.

For example, foot and mouth disease which is characterised by fever and blister-like sores on the tongue and lips, in the mouth, on the udders and between the hooves. The disease causes severe production losses, and while the majority of affected animals recover, the disease often leaves them weakened and debilitated.

It's the latest addition to the Agriculture Department's three pronged approach regarding animal disease preparedness. The announcement from Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Greg Ibach regards prevention efforts against foot and mouth disease at the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank.

“USDA has invested with this first purchase for the new vaccine bank, 27 million dollars that will help us purchase vaccine to have in reserve in the event there should be a FMD outbreak.”

The undersecretary says vaccine is an important tool and insurance in the event of an FMD outbreak, something that has not happened in our nation in over 90 years.

He adds…USDA has a system of overlapping safeguards in place to keep FMD as well as many other livestock diseases out of the country. And we have been very effective at that.