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Article: Simulated livestock epidemic sends a scary message to U.S.; 'Like waging war': Foot-and-mouth disease was eradicated from the United States in 1929
- Article from:
- Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque)
- Article date:
- March 25, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Three months before Britain's outbreak of foot-
and-mouth disease, top health officials in the United States, Mexico
and Canada conducted a dress rehearsal to test their ability to
respond to a similar epidemic.
Within four days of a simulated detection of the virus in a small
south Texas swine herd, the virus would have spread through 15 Texas
counties and Mexico, a scenario that turned out to be eerily similar
to the way a real epidemic now is playing out in Europe.
Experts who took part in the exercise last November say it showed
how difficult it is to detect the disease quickly, track down
exposed animals and assemble veterinarians and others to contain an
epidemic. ...