Texas Meeting To Push for Foot-and-Mouth Eradication from the Americas
Washington, DC, March 1, 2004 (PAHO)—Health and other experts from throughout the Americas, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), gather in Houston March 3 to give a final push towards the eradication of foot-and-mouth disease from the Western Hemisphere.
Animal health experts, cattle owners and other people involved the in the food production industry will also attend the two-day meeting at Houston’s Crowne Plaza Medical Center Hotel.
Participants include ministers of agriculture, PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses, and delegates from countries of the Americas and other regions representing public and private sectors, international organizations for technical and financial cooperation, scientists, trade representatives, and consumers.
According to PAHO’s latest Health in the Americas report, from mid-1997 to mid-2000 no clinical cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) were detected in an extensive area of South America. The disease showed a declining trend in all countries of the Andean sub region, except Bolivia.
However, the favorable situation in the Southern Cone began to deteriorate in the second half of 2000 when cases were reported in Argentina and Uruguay. "In both areas," the PAHO report said, "the foci was eradicated by sacrificing the diseased animals and their contacts."
The United States has been free of FMD since 1929.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious and economically devastating disease of ruminants and swine. It is considered the most costly of all animal diseases. It is one of the animal diseases that livestock owners most dread because it spreads quickly and widely, and because it has grave economic costs.
FMD can infect all cloven-hoofed animals. However, the rule of thumb, as explained by the Federation of American Scientists in a brief paper on FMD, "is that sheep are carriers, pigs are amplifiers and cows are indicators."
The objectives of the Houston conference are to increase awareness and generate support among the public and private sectors to enable the final stages of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) eradication from the Western Hemisphere. Specifically:
- To demonstrate institutional and commercial commitment towards a strategic approach to eradicate FMD from the Western Hemisphere.
- To identify potential contributions that the various stakeholders can make toward the final stages of FMD eradication.
- To promote effective methods for independent evaluation and support for the progress towards eradication of FMD from the Western Hemisphere.
An information session on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) – better known as "mad cow disease" -- with a panel of global experts is planned at the close of the Houston conference.
The identification of two cases of BSE, one in Canada and one imported into the United States underscores the need to be proactive and build national capacity. The session, organized by PAHO and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture, features the directors of these two organizations, as well as Dr. Paul Brown of the National Institutes of Health and experts.
On the BSE issue, PAHO reported late last year that despite the detection of a possible case of mad cow disease, in the United States, the safety status of meat in the Americas remains unchanged and presents no cause for alarm. "We have the necessary tools to control the situation and to eliminate any possibility of risk," said Dr. Albino Belotto, chief of PAHO’s Veterinary Public Health Unit.
This was after Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman confirmed the detection of a possible case of BSE in a single cow in the state of Washington. It was the first sign of BSE in the United States. As a precautionary measure, the farm from which the sick cow originated, in the town of Mabton, was quarantined.
BSE was first diagnosed in Great Britain in 1986.
Mad-cow disease is a chronic, degenerative disorder affecting the central nervous system of cattle that has been associated with a similar, also fatal ailment in humans.
The Americas is a net exporter and importer of beef and beef products. The risk of BSE being introduced into the region is real mainly because if the liberalization of international trade.
PAHO was established in 1902 and is the world’s oldest public health organization. PAHO works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and the quality of life of people of the Americas. It serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO). PAHO Member States today include all 35 countries in the Americas. France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are Participating States. Portugal and Spain are Observer States, and Puerto Rico is an Associate Member.
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