Disease produces a concern of epidemic proportions

Hundreds of thousands of cows, sheep and pigs are being destroyed in various parts of the world, but primarily Europe, in an attempt to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
It is a disease that can spread through a herd like wildfire, can be carried on the wind for miles, or, in the jet age, can be transported on the sole of a shoe from continent to continent.
While the focus of this epidemic is Great Britain, where as many as 1 million animals are likely to be destroyed in an effort to stop the spread, the United States cannot be complacent.
The Associated Press reports that three months before Britain's outbreak, top health officials in the United States, Mexico and Canada conducted a drill to test their ability to respond to a similar epidemic.
Within four days of a simulated detection of the virus in a small south Texas swine herd, the virus would have spread through 15 Texas counties and Mexico, a scenario that turned out to be eerily similar to the way a real epidemic now is playing out in Europe.
Experts who took part in the exercise last November say it showed how difficult it is to detect the disease quickly, track down exposed animals and assemble veterinarians and others to contain an epidemic.
That is a sobering thought in a nation that prides itself on its ability not only to feed itself, but to feed much of the world.
And watching Europe suffer through this crisis makes it difficult to dismiss an even more troubling thought. Is it possible for the United States to even defend itself against an enemy that decided to bring the virus into the country? As a nation, we concern ourselves about the threat of chemical, biological or nuclear attack, without even considering our other vulnerabilities.
While foot-and-mouth disease does not kill people, it creates economic chaos. The possibility that a terrorist nation or terrorist movement might attempt to use the United States' superiority in agriculture against it cannot be ignored or dismissed.