Aphthovirus Causes Foot and Mouth Disease. It has recently gained prominence because of outbreaks in normally disease free areas such as KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and England. Symptoms include the formation of blisters in the mouth and between the claws, hence the name. People can be infected through skin wounds or the mucous membranes in the mouth by handling diseased stock, handling the virus in the laboratory, or by drinking infected milk, but not by eating meat from infected animals. However, infection of humans is temporary and mild and Foot and Mouth Disease is not considered a public health problem.
Infection can spread all too easily through direct or indirect contact.
Cattle are mainly infected by inhalation, often from pigs, which excrete large amounts of virus through their breathing and are considered highly important in disease spread. Newly infected animals start spreading the virus before symptoms appear so it is often difficult to control this disease before it has spread too far. African Buffalo are important carriers of Foot and Mouth Disease. Foot and Mouth Disease is endemic in parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America with sporadic outbreaks in free areas. The outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa was first detected on 12 September 2000.