AND-MOUTH DISEASE HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY SIXTY-THIRD CONGRESS THIRD SESSION ON S. 6689 A BILL MAKING APPROPRIATION FOR THE ARREST AND ERAD- AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 ERADICATION OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1914. COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m. The CHAIRMAN. The hearing this morning is on Senate bill 6689, which reads as follows: A BILL Making appropriation for the arrest and eradication of the foot-and-mouth disease, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of $2,500,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and it is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended by the Secretary of Agriculture in the arrest and eradication of the foot-and-mouth disease, and to supply a deficiency in the appropriation “General expenses, Bureau of Animal Industry," of $1,597,996 in the "act making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fifteen," approved June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fourteen. We will ask you, Dr. Melvin, to proceed with a general statement in regard to the foot-and-mouth disease, where it has obtained in other countries, its visitation here, what we have done previously on the occasion of its outbreak, and then discuss the present situation. more in detail. STATEMENT OF DR. A. D. MELVIN, CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Dr. MELVIN. This is a disease affecting cattle, .., and sheep, and, to a very limited extent, horses and poultry, and occasionally human beings, principally through the use of milk from infected cows. The known outbreaks in the United States were in the years 1870, 1880, 1884, 1902, and 1908. The first three were comparatively trifling and confined strictly to the Atlantic seaboard. Those of 1902 and 1908 were more extensive, however, the one in 1902 existing in New England States only. and that in 1908 originating and being prevalent as far west as Michigan. The outbreak of this disease this year originated in Michigan, we think-northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan being the places where it was first found-and from there the infection reached the stockyards at Chicago, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Lancaster, Pa., and Brighton, Mass., and I think the Louisville yards also were infected, which accounts for the very widespread distribution of it. The disease has been very prevalent in the Middle Western and Eastern States. One shipment that was made from Chicago extended the infection to Montana. One shipment of cows from Wisconsin was made following this other shipment through Montana, and they were arrested and destroyed as far west as Spokane, Wash. The disease ordinarily is of virulent type, although in quite a few cases it is very mild and very hard to diagnose. It is almost indistinguishable from some other diseases of cattle, and the only way we have of proving the existence of the disease is by inoculating susceptible calves. The germ or virus has never been discovered. It is probably like the hog-colera virus, a filterable virus or ultramiscroscopic body. We have never undertaken in this country to study the disease in a scientific way, on account of its very highly contageous nature. This has been attempted in Europe a number of times and has been stopped by those Governments. Several years ago the German Government set aside an island in the North Sea for their scientists to study the disease, and they have conducted investigations there for a number of years, but without any additional light on the subject. It is more or less prevalent all the time in the countries of Europe. For the last three or four years it has been extremely prevalent in Russia, Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland. We do not permit the importation of cattle, sheep, swine, or goats from any of those countries, largely on account of the existence of the foot-and-mouth discases in Europe. From time to time outbreaks have occurred in Great Britain. They now have an outbreak in Great Britain, and their methods of procedure are the same as those that we have always used here; that is, slaughter the animals as quickly as possible and burying them, and complete disinfection of any contaminated premises. The disease has gained such a foothold and is so thoroughly implanted through France and Switzerland and some other continental countries that to employ similar methods would mean almost the eradication of the entire live stock of these countries. So they adopt strict quarantine methods and undertake to let the disease die out in that way. Fatality is not so great, but in the virulent outbreaks the animals fail so in flesh and milk properties, and outbreaks are so frequent, that it is almost impossible to conduct stock raising satisfactorily under those conditions. Senator PAGE. Doctor, you say that you burn the animal; or do you bury it? Dr. MELVIN. Bury it. Senator PAGE. You bury the whole of it including the hide? Senator PAGE. The hide to-day of an average cow is worth $10 or $11. Why could not that hide be removed and disinfected, so as to save that waste? Dr. MELVIN. There would be an additional chance for exposure and the spread by contamination in doing that. In some instances we have permitted them to remove the hides and sell them. At present there is an outbreak in New Jersey near Jersey City, and the only way we can dispose of those animals is through a desiccating works located in that vicinity. The authorities would not allow us to bury. They have a great many wells in that vicinity, and they would not allow us to bury the animals. In that case we permitted them to remove the hides and soak them in an antiseptic solution in a vat for several days. But ordinarily on farms we feel that the danger of reinfection is greater than the value of the salvage we would get from the hides. Under favorable conditions that could be done. This disease, as I stated, originated in some way in southwest Michigan and northwest Indiana, in a very small section. I am now trying to determine where the infection came from. In the outbreak which occurred six years ago, and undoubtedly the same source existed in the one 12 years ago, it was from vaccine virus used for prevention of smallpox. This virus is obtained, as you know, from calves, and after the pulp or virus has been removed from the calves they were sent to the country through the Detroit stockyards. The other cattle, from clean sections of Michigan, passed through these same stockyards pens and carried the infection to Buffalo stockyards, and from there down into New York, Pennsylvania, and into Maryland. This vaccine was originally imported from Japan, another country where the foot-and-mouth disease exists practically all the time, and the infection, being associated with the smallpox vaccine, must have had the effect of reducing its virulence, so that for years it was carried on in this way without the calves showing characteristic symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease. But after we got this vaccine and carried it by inoculation through six different generations of animals we got back to the typical virulent form of the foot-and-mouth disease. Senator KENYON. Has it been thought that this disease came from the hog-cholera virus that has been used? Dr. MELVIN. No, sir. It did not come in that way at all, although there was some of the foot-and-mouth disease spread through the virus used in connection with the hog-cholera serum. There was some plant in Chicago located near the stockyards, and in getting the virus-which is, of course, the blood of a diseased hog-which they used in connection with the serum in immunizing, there were some of those hogs, one lot of four, that were sick undoubtedly of the footand-mouth disease at the same time they were sick of hog cholera. That was not discovered until the virus had been used, and there were several outbreaks due to that, but as much of this virus as possible was traced up and confiscated and destroyed. That was the only instance where this foot-and-mouth disease was associated with hogcholera vaccine. This disease existed in this section of Michigan in a very mild form; so mild that it was not diagnosed as foot-and-mouth disease for several weeks. Finally our inspector in charge at Detroit was called in by the State veterinarian of Michigan, and proceeded to this locality, and there made a careful examination of animals, the State veterinarian having previously inoculated a calf with virus from some of these sick animals. |