Mark Twain is credited to have said “The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
I recently returned from a trip to South Africa, a country halfway around the world, where currently the cattle and swine industries are fighting an economically devastating battle against Foot-and Mouth Disease (FMD). The spread has been country wide, even in the face of some vaccination efforts, animal movement control, and stringent bio-security measures. Recently the disease has also been diagnosed in Botswana and Zimbabwe, so it is a regional issue now.
A simple direct 16-hour flight brought me from Johannesburg South Africa to Newark and after passport formalities it was time to collect luggage and witnessing several hunters collecting gun cases, I struck up a conversation on where they hunted including within and around South Africa.
Soon we parted our way, some leaving the airport, while others to connecting gates. However, something was amiss,
during the late 2000s I travelled to Africa often and upon return all luggage was checked and boots were sanitized and put in plastic bags if one was not wearing them. At this airport, on this day, there was a glaring absence of biosecurity.
What has changed, only the odds. The risk of FMD entering the USA from Southern Africa in the late 2000s was significantly lower as the disease was contained to a small geographical area, but now it is widespread in cattle (beef and dairy), swine and wildlife, which increases the spillover risk.
As we are currently heavily focused on New World Screwworm, it would be worthwhile to be prepared for other risks as well including FMD.
Lourens Havenga
English 
Portuguese 
Japanese 
Chinese