Residents learn about inspections Submitted by Glen Arnold
OSU Extension Office Representative
PUTNAM COUNTY - We often read about pests and diseases imported from foreign countries causing problems in the United States. Locally, we have the Emerald Ash Borer killing ash trees, Multi-colored Asian Lady Beetles crawling around our houses throughout the winter, Canada Thistle in our fields and gardens and Zebra Mussels in the Great Lakes. Between the people, goods and exotic pets that enter our country every day, its a wonder we dont have more foreign invaders (insects & diseases) than we currently do.
An organization in charge of protecting the United States agriculture is the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS is a multi-faceted Agency with a broad mission area that includes protecting and promoting U.S. agricultural health.
In the event that a pest or disease of concern is detected, APHIS implements emergency protocols and partners with affected States to quickly manage or eradicate the outbreak. This aggressive approach has enabled APHIS to successfully prevent and respond to potential pest and disease threats to U.S. agriculture for many years. APHIS can also help prevent problems by tracking diseases in other countries and helping prevent them from entering the U.S.
Recently, the first known Ebola infection in pigs was found by researchers in the Philippines. Ebola was first recognized in 1976 after an outbreak near the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire. It has been a popular topic in books and movies such as the 1995 Dustin Hoffman movie Outbreak where the deadly Ebola virus made its way from Africa to the U.S. and caused an unprecedented epidemic in a small coastal town. Basically, Hoffmans character had to locate the host animal (a monkey) carrying the virus in order to stop the spread.
International scientists have converged on farms in the Philippines to help local authorities discover how pigs contracted Ebola-Reston, a monkey-killing strain not known to harm people. Further testing has not found any new cases, including among 42 people involved in caring for the animals.
Both Ebola, and a related virus known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever [virus], are thought to infect humans via primates. Disease trackers have tested everything from snakes to guinea pigs in Africa in their search for an animal reservoir and have been repeatedly led back to caves, mines, and fruit bats.
In 1989, Ebola-Reston was discovered in the United States in association with an outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever among monkeys imported from the Philippines to Reston, Virginia. The virus was found among Philippine monkeys in the U.S. again in 1990 and 1996.
For more information about APHIS and the challenges it deals with go to http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ and read up on all the efforts undertaken to protect U.S Agriculture.
