Foot-and-mouth disease (patient information)


 * Assistant Editor(s)-in-Chief: Ethan Leeman

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Overview
Foot-and-mouth disease, FMD or hoof-and-mouth disease (Aphtae epizooticae) is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic animals such as cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs, as well as antelope, bison and other wild bovids, and deer. It is caused by foot-and-mouth disease virus. Humans are very rarely affected. Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a picornavirus, the prototypic member of the Aphthovirus genus in the Picornaviridae family. It is a highly variable and transmissible virus.

What are the symptoms of Foot-and-mouth disease?
The incubation period for foot-and-mouth disease virus has a range between 2 and 12 days.

The disease is characterized by high fever that declines rapidly after two or three days; blisters inside the mouth that lead to excessive secretion of stringy or foamy saliva and to drooling; and blisters on the feet that may rupture and cause lameness.

Adult animals may suffer weight loss from which they do not recover for several months as well as swelling in the testicles of mature males, and in cows, milk production can decline significantly. Though most animals eventually recover from FMD, the disease can lead to myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and death, especially in newborn animals. Some infected animals remain asymptomatic, but they nonetheless carry FMD and can transmit it to others.

What causes Foot-and-mouth disease?
Humans can be infected with foot-and-mouth disease through contact with infected animals, but this is extremely rare. Some cases were caused by laboratory accidents. Because the virus that causes FMD is sensitive to stomach acid, it cannot spread to humans via consumption of infected meat, except in the mouth before the meat is swallowed.

There is another viral disease with similar symptoms, commonly referred to as "hand, foot and mouth disease", that occurs more frequently in humans, especially in young children; the cause, Coxsackie A virus, is different from FMDV. Coxsackie A also belongs to the Picornaviridae family. Coxsackie viruses belong to the Enteroviruses within the Picornaviridae. Because FMD rarely infects humans, but spreads rapidly among animals, it is a much greater threat to the agriculture industry than to human health. Farmers around the world can lose huge amounts of money during a foot-and-mouth epizootic, when large numbers of animals are destroyed and revenues from milk and meat production go down.

Where to find medical care for Foot-and-mouth disease
Directions to Hospitals Treating Foot-and-mouth