FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 183, 6 July 1937, Page 6

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —In your issue of July 3 there appears a nirther epistle from the pen Oi Mr J. C. Hyman, in which he suggests we play a sort of blind .man's bluff. Personally, I consider the question is much too serious to treat with such levity. There are only two points I should like to allude to. lurstly, that despite the tremendous advance in recent years of laboratory equipment and research technique, a \ eteiinary Adviser edited in 1910 is quoted as an authority. I submit with all due respect to the learned gentlemen responsible, that to-day their theories may be considerably modified. Secondly, Mr llymun asks: Does the period of shipment, etc., absorb sufficient time to eliminate all risks of carriers of the virus of foot and mouth disease reaching and being liberated here? Now, Mr Hyman, if you wil read mv previous letter again you will find that under to-day’s regulations I quite agree with you. Authorities are not unanimous on how long an animal may remain a carrier, but possibly for a very long time. The mam danger from a carrier lies in the infection of others. Authorities give the maximum time from infection to outbreak as 13 days. Therefore, under to-day’s conditions, when animals may be brought to New Zealand singly the carrier could remain undetected, but with the proposed regulations which include grouped shipments under the charge of a qualified veterinary officer, the possibility of a carrier remaining undetected is very remote indeed. I am, etc... . a Te Marapai,” Reid’s Line, I*Gilding, 5-7-37.