AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT insiders think—but cannot be sure—that the recent virulent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on the northern quarantine line in Mexico is an isolated “sore spot” which won’t spread.
In immediate danger are many thousands of head of clean animals in the north of Mexico.
If the disease spreads to those herds, scientists are frank to admit, the difficulties of keeping the contagion from flaring up in this country would be enormously magnified.
The latest outbreak was among previously vaccinated cattle at Ojuelos de Jalisco, approximately 380 miles southwest of Brownsville, Texas.
The infected animals were slaughtered and immediate steps taken to trace their movements prior to discovery of the outbreak, according to USDA. Gen. Harry S. Johnson, U. S. co-director of the Mexican campaign, called the outbreak “the most serious setback which we have experienced in the past eight months.”
