The non-fatal disease, which can infect pigs, cows and sheep, causes animals to lose weight and stop milk production. But reverberations from the latest outbreak, first spotted in Great Britain and now detected as far away as Argentina and the United Arab Emirates, have shook the world. But many European farmers are worried about a repeat of the 1967 outbreak, when 400,000 animals had to be slaughtered, and the agricultural business was brought to a standstill. A month later, disease cases had been reported on three continents.
Infected animals can lose weight and stop milk production, decreasing their economic value.
The disease is rarely fatal, though it is more dangerous to very young animals. It usually runs its course in two to three weeks, although some animals take as long as six months to recover fully. The biggest problem with the disease is how easily it spreads. The disease can be carried by the wind, via clothing or by various other means. The potentially severe economic effect has led to equally severe measures to curb the disease's spread.