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Preventing Foot and Mouth Disease in Canada:

Last Modified: March 30, 2001

The recent Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in the United Kingdom (U.K.), France, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland has the potential to spread to other countries, including Canada.

All livestock producers, livestock and meat industry workers and the general public should be aware of the following:

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is caused by one of the most infectious viruses known to man. It can be spread to healthy livestock by:

(a) Meat or dairy products made from infected animals - the virus can survive for several months in certain products. Feeding garbage to swine is a common cause of outbreaks, particularly garbage from airports or ships.

(b) Footware, clothing or equipment contaminated with manure or body fluids from infected animals. The virus can survive for 14 days or longer on contaminated boots or clothing - longer than the time it takes to travel here from the UK.

(c) Through the air in aerosols from infected animals.

(d) Direct contact with infected animals, or contact with premises recently occupied by infected animals.

(e) People who have contacted infected animals - the virus can survive for up to 30 hours in the human throat, and can be carried in dirt on the skin or under fingernails.
Foot and Mouth Disease affects all cloven hoofed animals. This includes cattle, pigs, deer, elk, bison, water buffalo, sheep, goats, llamas, wild boar and pot-bellied pigs. Horses, donkeys, mules, dogs and birds are not affected but can carry the virus. Humans are rarely affected, but if they are, they experience mild cold-like symptoms.
Foot and Mouth Disease causes blisters in and around the mouth, around the hooves and on the teats of affected animals. While animals rarely die from the disease, they stop eating, are lame and very ill. Dairy cows stop producing milk. Meat animals stop growing and are not fit for slaughter.
Foot and Mouth Disease is extremely difficult to control once it occurs. The disease spreads very quickly within farms and between farms, often in a matter of hours. Control involves slaughtering large numbers of livestock, closing roads in affected areas, and stopping all sale and movement of livestock. Movement of people in infected areas is also stopped.
If Foot and Mouth Disease enters Canada, our export markets could be shut down for 18 months or more and cleanup could cost billions of dollars. Since over 50% of the meat products produced in Canada are exported, the loss of export markets will cause substantial economic hardship for the livestock industry and its associated stakeholders.
Foot and Mouth Disease currently exists in the UK, including England, Wales and Scotland, France and the Netherlands. FMD is also found in several African countries, as well as in Asia and South America.

Everyone must take the following precautions to avoid introducing Foot and Mouth Disease into Canada:

Do not bring any meat or dairy products into Canada from the UK, or any other country, under any circumstances. Do not bring in any other livestock products e.g semen, embryos, hides. The FMD virus can survive for extended periods of time in meats, even cured or processed products. There is now increased vigilance at Canadian airports for these products and they will be confiscated if found. The last outbreak of FMD in Canada was in Saskatchewan in 1952 and was brought in by contaminated meat.
All visitors to agri-food establishments (farms, feedlots, animal feed mills, slaughter or meat processing facilities) should be strictly controlled. Only allow visitors if necessary. Operators have the right to refuse entry to anyone if they are not comfortable that adequate precautions have been taken. Use a visitor log and require that all visitors sign in and list their previous livestock contacts. All Agri-food establishments should maintain a visitor log that records:

(a)Who the person is

(b)Where that person is from

(c)Why they are entering the establishment

(d)Last livestock contact (when and where)

(e)Have someone witness the visitor sign in
Anyone traveling to the UK (or any other country with FMD) should avoid all contact with livestock, farm equipment on a livestock operation, animal feeds and slaughter plants for at least one week (7 days) and preferably 2 weeks after entering Canada.
Anyone that must visit an agri-food establishment or farm within 2 weeks of returning to Canada from the UK (or any other country with FMD) must take appropriate sanitary precautions. This means:

(a) No contact with livestock for at least 3 days.

(b) Footware or clothing that has contacted livestock or been worn in visits to any agri-food establishment outside Canada must be not be brought into the country. Visitors should be advised to purchase new footware and clothing in Canada, or only use footware and clothing that did not leave Canada.

(c) All other footwear must be thoroughly cleaned (no visible manure or dirt/dust) and disinfected (a 50:50 mix of household bleach and water or 50:50 mix of vinegar and water) and all other clothing laundered, preferably dry cleaned, before the visit.

(d) Thorough showering or bathing, including cleaning under the fingernails - vinegar shower as soon as possible after entering Canada.

(e) All luggage and equipment (even cameras) and personal effects that have been to another country must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected first - do not allow objects that cannot be adequately disinfected. Consideration should be given to using disposable cameras.

(f) Wearing disposable coveralls and disposable plastic boots, or clean cloth coveralls and boots supplied by the establishment.
Pork or wild boar producers must not feed garbage or restaurant waste to swine, unless they have been inspected and licensed to do so by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Garbage may contain imported meat made from infected animals, and is a common cause of outbreaks. Meat or dairy products from outside Canada must not be fed to pet pigs under any circumstances.
Livestock owners should immediately contact a veterinarian for the diagnosis of any new or suspicious disease problem in their stock, even if mild. FMD spreads very quickly and easily, so early diagnosis is critical in controlling the outbreak.

For more information contact:

Dr. Gerald Ollis, Chief Provincial Veterinarian,
Food Safety Division, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development
Third Floor, O.S. Longman Building
Edmonton, Alberta
T6H 5T6
(780) 427-6535

Dr. Julia Keenliside, Provincial Swine Veterinarian,
Animal Industry Division, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development
#204, J.G. O'Donoghue Building
7000-113 Street Edmonton, Alberta
T6H 5T6
(780) 427-4614

The above article is ©2001 Her Majesty the Queen in the Right of Alberta. All rights reserved.
Reprinted on this site with the kind permission of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD) Horse Industry Section
Source: Dr. Gerald Ollis and Dr. Julia Keenliside