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Dr. Jim Floyd
Department of Farm Animal Health & Resource Management (FAHRM)
College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University
What is Foot-and-Mouth
Disease (FMD)?
FMD is caused by a virus that infects cloven-hooved (two-toed) farm
and wild animals, such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats and deer. There are
several different strains of the virus. The FMD strain now in England
and Europe is harder on pigs and cattle but milder in sheep and goats.
Humans do not catch FMD virus.
Although older pigs and cattle usually do not die from FMD infection,
they suffer a severe illness, which is economically devastating to their
owners. They have high fevers, stop eating, give less milk and become
lame. Blisters form on the feet, mouth, nose and teats, which then burst,
leaving painful ulcers. The hooves of infected pigs may drop off, and
young piglets often die.
Why is so much
attention being paid to FMD?
FMD broke out in England in February 2001, spread rapidly in that country,
and then moved to Ireland, France, and the Netherlands. The virus is
extremely contagious and spreads rapidly unless it is contained. This
usually requires quarantining infected farms, followed by slaughtering
and burning all susceptible animals. Anyone having contact with animals
in infected countries should not go near susceptible animals for at
least five days.
Vaccination is possible but is much less effective in controlling an
epidemic. Vaccines do not protect against all FMD virus types and do
not create a strong, long lasting immunity. In addition, vaccinated
animals will blood-test positive for the disease, complicating diagnosis
and control efforts.
Because the FMD virus is spread so easily, countries with the disease
are banned from exporting animals and their products, creating further
economic hardship.
FMD is not mad cow disease!
Confusion between these two diseases recently occurred because both
now exist in Europe. Mad cow disease is a fatal, slow developing brain
disease in cattle which is unrelated to FMD. Mad cow disease has never
been diagnosed in the United States, and FMD was last seen in 1929.
The U.S. federal and state governments place an extremely high priority
on keeping them and other foreign animal diseases out of the country.
They aggressively investigate any potential cases, testing thousands
of animals over the past few years. For this reason, in late March two
sheep farms in Vermont were depopulated and tested because of the remote
possibility that they might have a brain disease related to mad cow
disease.
Animal products
are safe to eat.
FMD does not infect humans and has been kept out of the United States.
Meat and dairy products are tightly inspected and regulated. They are
as safe as ever for human consumption.