Animals migrate to Florida by air, land, sea and cargo carrier making the state’s productive livestock and poultry industry and populous wildlife susceptible to foreign animal diseases and other emerging microbes.
First-time threats
A foreign animal disease is one which is believed to be absent from the United States and its territories, is infectious to livestock or poultry and has the potential to cause a significant health or economic impact. Once an infection has been introduced, spread can be rapid between animals and farms.
Widespread impact and lasting effects
Foreign animal diseases effect more than livestock production. The threat of disease in one state alone can shut down a country's ability to export animals and animal-related products. The loss of animal life can be devastating and economic costs related to disease control and eradication can reach millions of dollars.
The damage resulting from foreign animal disease does not stop with the agriculture industry; economic disturbances include limited travel and apprehension among vacationers to visit the Sunshine State.
Prevention
Preventing disease is preferred to responding to breakouts. The goal of the University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute, relative to animal pathogens, is to provide the tools needed to prevent foreign animal diseases and other emerging pathogens from impacting the health of Floridians, their animals and the State’s economy.
Q: What is the difference between a foreign animal disease and an emerging pathogen?
A: The principal difference is that foreign animal diseases are recognized disease agents, whereas emerging pathogens are new disease agents that were previously unknown or unrecognized.
Q: Can humans contract foreign animal diseases?
A: Humans and animals share susceptibility to many microbial and viral pathogens. Many foreign animal diseases are specific to animals and do not infect humans. Some notable exceptions that infect humans as well as animals are avian influenza, bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), Rift Valley Fever, Nipah Virus and West Nile Virus.
Q: Where do emerging pathogens come from?
A: Emerging pathogens arise from viruses or microbes that infect one or more of the myriad of animals in the environment. The disease becomes known when they cause disease in a new species of animal such as humans or their livestock. The process is one constantly ongoing in nature. Viruses and microbial organisms are under strong pressures to optimize their genetic makeup to survive in the environment in which they reside. A percentage of variant viral or microbial pathogens that are introduced into new hosts are able to survive and reproduce. The forces of nature that select for survival will reward those variants that are best suited to the host in which they find themselves. A certain few of these will emerge as new pathogens in the human or animal host to which they have become adapted.
A: The principal difference is that foreign animal diseases are recognized disease agents, whereas emerging pathogens are new disease agents that were previously unknown or unrecognized. Q: Can humans contract foreign animal diseases?
A: Humans and animals share susceptibility to many microbial and viral pathogens. Many foreign animal diseases are specific to animals and do not infect humans. Some notable exceptions that infect humans as well as animals are avian influenza, bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), Rift Valley Fever, Nipah Virus and West Nile Virus.