Taiwan's zookeepers have not closed zoos to safeguard humans, but to protect the animals from the swine's disease, thought to have originated in mainland China. We can also unwittingly transfer it on our clothing and footwear. It can get into animal feed, water and utensils used to handle livestock. The virus can be nasty. Sometimes, these are so deep that the entire hoof can eventually slough off.
Animals run high fevers and often become lame.
The disease can be fatal for baby animals. But humans are completely unaffected by it. There is a disease which does infect humans called Hand, Foot and Mouth. This affliction is caused by a completely unrelated virus called Coxsackie and is often mistaken for chicken pox because of the small sores which appear on hands and feet and inside the mouth. Fever and throat pain usually accompany the sores, and it most commonly affects children.