celebrity writers

Foot-And-Mouth Disease

Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic

Mar 2, 2001

First the "mad cow diease" hit in Britain, and it has taken over 80 human lives. Already bovine spongiform encephalopathy has spread to the European mainland and caused the United States to halt import of beef. On top of that, Britain has been wrestling with cases of swine fever and salmonella. But now, in the largest epidemic since 1967, livestock have been culled by the hundreds to prevent spread of their latest disease, the foot and mouth virus. Even the famously cloned sheep "Dolly" has been quaranteened. Pending bans by the European Union and the USDA, Britain voluntarily halted the export of all animal products and livestock. Britain is painfully estimating a loss to the farm industry of at least $12 million a week.

Foot-and-Mouth disease is not zoonotic (only one case of a human infection was ever reported, and the effects were mild), unlike Mad Cow Disease, and has been fairly common all over the world for decades. It is a virus that causes blisters on the mouth and hooves, fever, lameness, and abortion. It spreads through the air or by direct contact and symptoms start showing after a few days. It is perhaps the most highly contagious animal disease and the only treatment being used currently is culling, isolation, and disinfection.

Greece, you may recall, suffered an outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth in June of 2000. It took them four months to eradicate, and required the slaughter of 5400 cows, 4000 sheep, and 3500 pigs.

Precautions and Procedures for FMD

Go To Page: 1

The copyright of the article Foot-And-Mouth Disease in Goats & Sheep is owned by Kara Ceraolo. Permission to republish Foot-And-Mouth Disease in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.