What is Foot & Mouth Disease?

What is foot-and-mouth disease?

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease that does not affect humans but has devastating effects on animals with cloven hooves such as cattle, swine, sheep, goats and deer.  The United States has not had case of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929, and that occurrence was contained and eradicated quickly.

There are seven types of FMD virus, all of which have similar symptoms.  Immunity to one type does not protect animals from other types.  The average incubation period for FMD is between three and eight days, but it can be up to two weeks in some cases.  The disease is rarely fatal, but may kill very young animals.  Those that survive are often debilitated and experience severe loss in milk or meat production.  FMD does not affect humans, although people can carry the virus on clothing and other surfaces if they come in contact with the virus. 

Photo Gallery of FMD Symptoms

Is FMD related to Mad Cow disease (BSE)?

No.  Foot and mouth disease is a viral disease that affects animals, including cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and other cloven-hoofed animals.  It is only very rarely transmissible to humans.

BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a disease caused by rogue proteins called prions.  It may or may not be transmissible to humans.  

Neither disease is present in the US.

Is there a treatment or cure? 

 The virus can be killed by heat, low humidity and some disinfectants.  It is rarely fatal to animals but may kill very young animals.  There is no cure, and the virus usually runs its course in two to three weeks with most animals recovering.  However, affected animals can become debilitated and suffer loss of milk or meat production.

  What are the symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease? 

The most obvious signs of the disease in animals are excessive slobbering, going off feed and lameness.

Affected animals may have a sudden rise in temperature, followed by blisters in the mouth or other areas of tender skin such as udders in females, nostrils and on the feet -- particularly near the hooves.  Soft tissues under the hoof are often inflamed and the animal can become lame and may even shed its hooves.  

Eating becomes painful and many animals go off feed, which results in weight loss, declined milk production for dairy cattle and goats, and declined meat production.  In some cases, affected animals can suffer from sterility, chronic lameness, aborted pregnancies and chronic mastitis.

  Can people contract foot-and-mouth?

FMD is not highly infectious to humans.  People may develop blister-like swellings in the mouth, but it is a rare occurrence.  The last confirmed case of FMD in humans in the UK occurred in 1966.  The major concern for the United States livestock industry is that people can unknowingly carry the virus in their nasal passages or on their clothing and shoes.

Suspected human cases in the UK, including a slaughterhouse worker splashed by fluid from a decomposing carcass, have been cleared of the disease.