Livestock Disease and African Food Security Essay

In the film, Foul Water, Fiery Serpent, former president, Jimmy Carter shows his process of eradicating Guinea Worm disease. With the help of Director Gary Strieker, Carter educates viewers on how the disease forms, how it has spread throughout countries, and how it will soon be defeated. When Guinea worm first surfaced, there were 3.5 million cases in 20 countries worldwide. With the help of Jimmy Carter, his campaign members, and many more, they have managed to drop these cases down to 3,190 by the year 2009. With some statistical facts at the end of the documentary, Guinea worm is likely to be the next disease in the history of mankind to be eradicated from the earth, right after smallpox. It was also the first parasitic disease to be eradicated, and the first disease to be eradicated without the use of vaccines or medicines. With this campaign, reported cases went from 4,136 in 2007, to 242 cases by 2009 in Ghana alone. None of this would have been possible if it were not for the awareness in global health, and the mission to make the world a healthier, safer place to live.

Horse slaughter has been going on for a long time now and humans have increased their horsemeat consumption because of the mad cow disease. Mad cow disease is issued from the fattening foods farmers give to their cattle. In the food are sheep’s’ bones grinded into tiny, tiny bits. Ignorant till the outburst, makers didn’t know that in sheep bones there is the virus of the dreaded disease. The disease doesn’t affect sheep as it is only in their bones but when the cows eat it, it gets into their systems and is passed on through their meat to humans.

History has shown that once our ecology is disrupted and our natural resources are gone, we will start dying off. In order to avoid this fate, we must act now. Our next step to recovery will be with our livestock. I understand that human life carries more worth than that of livestock. However, we cannot succeed without our livestock. We must first restore the health of our livestock in order to prosper. We cannot afford to lose any more livestock and that starts now. We initially give the highest regard to our livestock. The livestock will not go without ample feeding and clean water. We have to restore our livestock population has in both health and numbers.

Chapter eight of the textbook, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism Containing and Preventing Biological Threats, by Jeffrey R. Ryan, goes into extensive detail on the important role that agriculture plays in the United States food supply. Due to the fact that agriculture plays a large part in the enhancing and sustaining of society as a whole, it is terrifying when diseases begin to take root. One of the major threats the United States faces, when it comes to agriculture, is forging animal diseases, or FAD (Ryan, 2016, p. 187). To better explain, FAD is considered to be serious animal diseases that are not conceived in the United States (Ryan, 2016,

These potential costs come in the form of environmental hazards and damages, such as contaminated water and air pollution (Walsh, 2013)2. EPA estimated in 2004 that 20% of man-made air pollutants from methane were a result from livestock, primarily cows (Air quality)3. Poor sanitation of animal waste has also been linked to food contamination and outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli and various other food-borne illnesses. In April 2009 through August 2010, a strain of Swine Flu, H1N1, was believed by scientists to have originated in industrialized farms overcrowded with pigs (Farm sanctuary, 2016)4. This pandemic was believed to have killed as many as 18,000 people according to the CDC. The overuse of antibiotics and growth hormones used to protect livestock from the rampant spread of disease, due to cramped quarters, and to help beef up production, are also beginning to show strong correlations to an increase in several cancers, antibiotic resistant “super bugs”, early onset of puberty in children, depression, brain damage, respiratory issues, birth defects, miscarriage and obesity (Other health risks of the meat industry)5. The costs to sanitize water and treat illness is tremendous and only

Mad Cow Disease should be taken very seriously because it can affect the whole world, even if your country is unaffected by the disease. Mad Cow is not a new disease, for it has been around for a few decades. Precautions and regulations should have been set for European countries and the United States a long time ago. Luckily the United States has been blessed with the geographical difference from the rest of the commotion going on in the European nations. This paper discusses the history and the time of infection for most of the counties in the infected areas; furthermore, the economic agriculture affected in countries, and the economic effect on the United States; and what exactly the government and other countries are doing to protect themselves and other nation from the spread and incubation of this disease.

This article discusses how the consumption and production of meat and dairy is one of leading causes of habitat destruction and quick action needs to be taken to preserve biodiversity. The article analyzes the meat-eating trends in tropical regions of America, Asia, and Africa. It concludes that meat production rates are rapidly increasing, underlying that a 30-50% increase in the land will be needed by 2050 if these patterns continue. Bushmeat consumption in Africa and livestock consumption in China are outlined as special concerns. The main solution proposed is reforming the livestock industry by reducing demand and waste, replacing ecologically inefficient protein sources with better alternatives such as plants or fish, and reintegrate modern livestock production

Thousands have died and many are in danger from the effects of Ebola. In 2013, the pestilent virus began in Guinea where it then meandered into Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. The African countries are now facing challenges to fight and prevent the malaise. The alarming death rate is forcing the region into a state of crisis. The affected countries are striving for a cure, however, the issue remains incorrigible. “In addition, as a number of these countries are quite poor, aid and health

The profound effects of the livestock sector are amongst the top contributors to serious environmental problems at both a local and global scale (Bourgeois, 2012).

In Laura Sayre's article, she contends that factory farming seriously threatens human health. Sayre cites multiple health and agricultural organizations to back her claims. She begin by explaining that diseases are not only spread by the food but by land, air, water, and factory workers. She then points out the over use of antibiotics by factory farms and how many disease strains are now resistant to these antibiotics. Sayre continues, by explaining the history of pathogens that have been pasted to humans by various animals thought out time. According to Sayre, the increase of infectious diseases is mainly due to the expansion of factory farming. Then Sayre goes on to describe, with the help of research completed by Johns Hopkins, why livestock

stop to those kinds of bugs. Farming in Africa is abundant and provides a lot of food to the

How livestock was mostly a good thing but it is the cause of a lot of diseases

Unfortunately, for individuals in the developing world resources are lacking. It is individuals in these situations that are extremely vulnerable to potential exposure. Climate change is also impacting disease transmission. Large environmental areas are shrinking due to urban sprawl which is leading to increased populations density’s, increased pathogen load, decreased distributions, and a greater prevalence of disease (Mills, Gage, Khan, 2010). Thus, larger numbers of individuals are living in close proximity of disease vectors.

The prevention of disease is one of the most important aspects of raising livestock. If disease is introduced to the farm or operation, it can be an operation breaker because it can cause all the animals to to contract the disease and not be able to be productive.

Epidemic diseases are the most important product on an agricultural society because they are most likely to occur in areas of many domesticated plant and animal species, which can feed large human populations that in turn create an environment in which epidemics can maintain themselves. Also, the germs evolve from domestic animals themselves.