We support necessary measures to protect animal health and the future of our livestock industry. But the effects of the disease go wider than farms with outbreaks. A highly infectious viral disease affecting livestock. The disease is characterised by fever and blister-like sores on the tongue and lips, in the mouth, on the teats and between the hooves. A. Death is not usual but animals do stop gaining weight and milk production in dairy cattle falls.
Human cases are extremely rare.
The last outbreak in the European Union was in Greece last year. The disease is endemic in Africa, South America, India and the South Pacific. All farm visitors should wash and disinfect personal effects and equipment that they have with them which have been used on other farms. It is hard to make synthetic vaccines because the viruses mutate so quickly that a vaccine which is effective against one strain may be ineffective against others.