The virus takes a toll on productivity, but not generally of life. The disease lowers milk production and reduces the working ability of animals. In a month they recover. FMD is endemic to India, and used to be in Europe. It has been traditionally treated through indigenous veterinary medicine.
Vaccines are also available and have been used.
Nowhere in the world have entire herds been exterminated. In India, we hold cattle sacred, because without them we could not renew our soil fertility. Ecologically, the cow has been central to Indian civilisation. Both materially and conceptually, Indian agriculture has built its sustainability on maintaining the integrity of the cow, considering her inviolable and sacred, seeing her as the mother of the prosperity of food systems. The integration of livestock with farming has been the secret of sustainable agriculture.