FMD vaccines work
From Mr Keith Erlandson Sir: Peter °borne comments (Politics, 11 August), 'We do not know the truth about vaccination.' Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease recently have been nipped in the bud in Holland and Macedonia, but an established epizootic was cleared up by vaccination in Mexico 50 years ago with less sophisticated vaccines than currently are available.
An outbreak occurred near Vera Cruz in December 1946 and 16 states were affected. Half a million ungulates were destroyed, but still the disease marched on. A joint Mexico/USA commission decided to change tactics, and in 1948 new east-west quarantine lines were established, patrolled by Mexican troops. The area covered 172,000 square miles and contained 17 million hoofed animals.
Teams of vaccinators set out in jeeps, on horses, mules and burros, in aeroplanes, canoes and landing barges, working in mountain, jungle and savannah. Animals were vaccinated at four-monthly intervals, some four times, others five. The task was completed in August 1950. Upon termination of the vaccination programme, all stock were inspected for two years. The disease was declared eradicated in April 1954. This saved the Texan beef industry, the USA having been clear since 1929. Mexico has been clear ever since.
This lesson of history has proved that vaccination worked in a situation where the disease had secured a firm hold. The prospect of Margaret Beckett heading a vaccination taskforce mounted on a donkey, I find singularly appealing.
Keith Erlandson
Llangollen, Denbighshire
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