Foot and Mouth Disease
click on images for detail

Description

A highly contagious, acute viral disease of all cloven-footed animals.

Incubation usually 1-5 days (up to 7 days)

5% of adults may die.

50% of calves will die.

100% of all cloven-footed animals affected.

The very earliest signs often go unnoticed.

• A sudden significant drop in the milk yield of dairy herds.
• May paddle from side to side on hind feet.
• May lie around looking depressed.
• Body temperature up to 107 degrees F.

The obvious signs An affected animal will have strings of frothy slobber running from its mouth and will be continuously chomping. An affected animal will be obviously lame and inclined to lie down. It will be obviously quite sick

Vesicles

About 75% of lesions will be found in the mouth.

In the early stages there will be blisters on the tongue, on the hard palate, gums and inside the mouth. (click image)

As the blister ruptures, a raw red area will be exposed beneath. (click image)

Eventually the lining of the mouth may be detatched or the surface of the tongue will lose its covering. (click image)

About 25% of cattle will show lesions in the feet.

Blisters will appear on the skin around the coronary band and between the claws. (click image)

Blisters often appear on the teats. (click image)

Cause

There are three major strains of the causal virus with more than 60 serotypes which vary considerably in their virulence.

Foot and mouth disease is present in Japan, South America, the Philippines, the Middle East, and Asia.

It is conveyed between countries by air travellers, on the clothes or in food or other products they may have purchased.

It is also imported in meat, animal feedstuffs, hides for leather making, semen, frozen embryos and some processed foods for human consumption.

How it Spreads By the wind. The virus can be carried 100km in the wind. Birds can carry the virus between countries. 16% of outbreaks start this way. Between farms by mice, rats, dogs, cats, wild life and possibly some insects. Human beings -- on clothes or footwear. On the tires of vehicles.

Treatment

In countries where the slaughter policy is not practiced, most cattle will recover within a few weeks just to spend the rest of their life suffering.

Some animals will die.

Others will:

• Become infertile
• Abort
• Have difficulty breathing
• Become anaemic
• Develop diabetes melitus
• Have reduced immunity to infectious diseases.

All the tissues that are damaged are prone to secondary infection with bacteria and this prolongs the recovery.

Treatment is not considered to be cost effective.

Keeping animals alive is, in most cases, extremely inhumane.

Control

Many countries adopt the slaughter policy.

Carcasses are burned as is material that cannot be disinfected.

Fixed objects are disinfected with special chemicals.

Restocking is prohibited for a period of months.

Vaccination is costly and sometimes ineffective.

Animals must be revaccinated every 6-8 months.

It is virtually impossible to isolate or quarantine infected animals.