Hoof-and-mouth disease causes blisters on the hooves and in the mouths of cattle, leading to loss of appetite and death.
The highest risk products for carrying the
hoof-and-mouth disease virus are meat, milk and dairy products as well as straw and hay, Creagh said.
TAIPEI, June 14 Kyodo Taiwan confirmed Monday that cattle on a second farm on the offshore island of Quemoy tested positive for the virus that causes
hoof-and-mouth disease, fueling fears the virus might spread to Taiwan proper.
This was surprising since the global market for Argentine beef had disappeared after an outbreak of
hoof-and-mouth disease. Although this predated mad cow disease by a couple of decades, at the time it brought on an epidemic of mad contractor syndrome.
The state, in turn, made the shift in land use from wildlife to cattle cheap and easy by lending capital to ranchers, paying for fences, subsidizing eradication of the tsetse fly and
hoof-and-mouth disease, moving more tribal lands into white ownership, and providing massive gun power to eliminate wildlife that preyed on domestic crops and livestock.
The Miyazaki government declared Wednesday night that beef cattle raised in the prefecture are now free of
hoof-and-mouth disease, a virus-induced ailment that can be fatal to livestock.
Late last week Japan eased controls imposed after a March 25 outbreak of
hoof-and-mouth disease among cattle in Miyazaki Prefecture on the southwestern Japanese main island of Kyushu.