Preventing Foot-and-Mouth Disease in North Carolina

Mention foot-and-mouth disease to any livestock farmer in North Carolina and watch him catch his breath. As an animal disease that threatens to cripple North Carolina's economy, foot-and-mouth disease crept in and out of the headlines during the fall of 2001. The array of news stories and Web sites has left many people with questions. How will this affect us? Why should we care? What should we do to keep the disease from coming to North Carolina? In an effort to educate North Carolinians statewide about this economic threat, UNC-TV, in collaboration with the NC Emergency Management Division and NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, presents this special broadcast addressing this often-misunderstood issue.

A panel of experts including former Commissioner of Agriculture Meg Scott Phipps, Eric Tolbert, Director of the North Carolina Emergency Management Division, State Veterinarian Dr. David Marshall and others discuss precautions being taken to prevent an outbreak of foot-and-mouth in North Carolina, how an outbreak would affect North Carolina and measures that will be implemented to contain the disease if an outbreak occurs. In addition, panelists are joined by experts in the audience to answer questions e-mailed to the NC Emergency Management Division, the NC NCDA-CS and UNC-TV's North Carolina Now. Members of the studio audience also participated.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a severe, highly communicable virus that affects cattle, swine, sheep, goats, deer and other cloven-hoofed animals, affected South America, Asia, Africa and parts of Europe. Although humans cannot contract the disease, they can carry it to animals and often innocently contribute to the rapid spread of the disease. For example, it is suspected that smoke created when farmers burned their infected herds may have spread the virus. Since the virus can live in the nostrils for 28 hours, people who visit an infected area can literally sneeze FMD to surrounding areas. See the Fact Sheet for more information about the disease.