Fresh news delivered to you every day. Visit our Circulation department for print subscription information. It's not dangerous to humans but is highly dangerous to many farm animals. Once established in the United States it could probably be eradicated, but only after causing great economic damage. Most viruses can spread only through fairly close contact, such as coughs or sneezes.
Wind can carry it dozens or hundreds of miles.
Last year in Japan, where foot and mouth disease had not been seen since 1908, the virus arrived on straw imported from China. Another outbreak in South Africa began when a farmer picked up garbage from a tramp steamer anchored offshore and fed it to his pigs. The current British outbreak is thought to have begun in a similar way. Because the disease is so devastating to farmers, countries go to great lengths to keep it out. People are almost never infected by the virus, and when they are it causes little or no illness.