[Jacob-list] Foot and Mouth/Scrapie

[Jacobflock at aol.com]

Fred here.  For an overview you might check out www.aphis.usda.gov

Foot and mouth and scrapie are different; the effect on humans is different.  
Both are highly communicable and commercialy devastating.  The aphis site 
describes the FMD symptoms.  This is not a good time to be moving livestock 
around without taking extra precautions if you don't have to.

Two months(?) ago, the TX Ag Dept did a practice drill for an outbreak of FMD 
which is "discovered" in Brownsville, TX at a cattle auction barn.  They 
traced only the cattle and trucks out of the barn...and in three days it is 
spead in TX and five other states.  Focusing on TX, the cost was estimated to 
be $50 million per county.   Fred