Farm Medical Help

A few examples of foreign animal diseases that are of great concern.

-Foot and Mouth Disease which affects all cloven hoofed animals and is wide spread throughout the world
-Newcastle Disease causes almost 100% mortality in poultry flocks and could spread rapidly through a concentrated poultry farming area such as the Fraser Valley;
-Pseudorabies or Aujeszky's Disease is a herpes virus of pigs that is present in many countries including the United States. This disease is very difficult to get rid of. -Hog Cholera and African Swine Fever are two similar diseases which infect pigs.
Some people are more likely than others to get diseases from farm animals. A person's age and health status may affect his or her immune system, increasing the chances of getting sick. People who are more likely to get diseases from farm animals include infants, children younger than 5 years old, organ transplant patients, people with HIV/AIDS, and people who are being treated for cancer.

Sickness and disease can be devastating to a livestock population and, in turn, to farm productivity. The three major types of health problems that affect farm animals are parasites, bacterial infections and harmful insects.