Animal Diseases: Foot-and-mouth, Bluetongue and Rinderpest
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This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.
Rinderpest,[A] foot-and-mouth disease[/A] and bluetongue disease are all [A]animal viruses[/A] that can ruin a farmer.
An outbreak of one disease is bad enough. Britain has been dealing with foot-and-mouth -- and now its first cases of bluetongue. United Nations officials see the recent arrival of that virus in the United Kingdom as another [A]sign[/A] of a [A]bigger problem[/A].
The [A]Food and Agriculture Organization[/A] says animal diseases once limited to warm,[A] tropical climates[/A] are on the rise around the world. It says countries need to [A]invest[/A] more to control them. It says things like the globalization of trade, the [A]movement[/A] of people and goods and probably also climate change may only further their spread.
Bluetongue can kill sheep and cattle and other[A] ruminant animals[/A] like goats and deer. It does not affect humans. The virus is spread by small biting flies called midges.
It was first [A]discovered[/A] in South Africa. It spread widely and by the end of the nineteen nineties had crossed the Mediterranean. Since last year, [A]bluetongue[/A] has been found in several countries in northern Europe.
There are safe vaccines against forms of the southern virus, but not yet for the [A]northern one[/A].
But there is better news about one of the deadliest of all [A]animal diseases[/A]: rinderpest. Some experts are hopeful that the world can be declared free of it by two thousand ten. This is the [A]goal[/A] of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Program. Vaccines have helped speed the progress.
Rinderpest can lead to [A]starvation[/A] in areas where people depend on cattle and [A]buffalo[/A] for food and work. In the eighteen hundreds, it killed eighty to ninety percent of cattle in southern Africa. After another epidemic in the nineteen eighties, thirty-four African nations combined their [A]efforts[/A] to fight the disease.
Rinderpest has also struck hard in central Asia, where it[A] started[/A]. There have still been some outbreaks in recent years.
But the World Organization for Animal Health has declared most nations in the world free of [A]rinderpest[/A]. They have not reported a case for at least five years.
Some other nations have declared themselves free of it for at least two years. But they still need [A]official recognition[/A] for trade purposes.
Other animals affected by rinderpest include yaks, sheep, goats and some[A] pigs[/A]. It can spread through the air. It can also spread through water [A]infected[/A] with waste from sick animals. Some animals [A]die[/A] after just a day or two.
And that's the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.
