|
Extension
Debuts Web Site on Foot-and-Mouth Disease
AUBURN, APRIL 5---Livestock
producers in Alabama and the rest of the nation are worried. Worried
that foot-and-mouth disease could spread from Europe and enter the
United States.
The Alabama Cooperative
Extension System has developed a Foot-and-Mouth Disease Web Site to
keep the state's livestock producers, veterinarians and others
informed about the disease and the outbreak in Europe.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a severe, highly communicable viral
disease of cattle and swine, generally controlled through
quarantining and destroying animals exposed to the disease.
The Web site, located at
http://www.aces.edu/dept/extcomm/fmd/, features articles about the
disease as well as a number of links to expert sites on the disease.
"We see a web site
as another way of keeping Alabamians informed about the disease and
how they can help prevent it from coming into the United
States," says Dr. Stephen Jones, director of the Alabama
Cooperative Extension System.
Jones added that county
Extension agents are working closely both with the State Department
of Agriculture and Industries and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
"With agents in
every county of the state, Extension is well suited to disseminating
information to large numbers of people rapidly.
"But the proration
crisis facing the Extension System is hampering our ability to serve
the citizens of the state. The Extension veterinarian position
cannot be filled in spite of outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and
other severe animal diseases that have reached critical levels
abroad," says Jones.
###
SOURCE: Dr. Stephen
Jones, Director, Alabama Cooperative Extension System
|
