Foot and Mouth is a viral disease that affects cloven hoofed animals - cows, sheep and goats. It is highly infectious and has an incubation period of 10-14 days. It can be spread by almost anything! On car and truck tyres, clothing, hair, fur, body fluids, straw, hay, feedstuffs, skin, boots and shoes...etc. It is also airborne - if the farm next to you has it and the wind is blowing your way then you are likely to be the next outbreak.
Classic signs of the disease are lesions around the nose and mouth that weep and cause pain and lesions around the top of the hoof and between the two toes that cause lameness. A high fever and loss of condition and weight follow. It is not always fatal but as it is so infectious all cloven hooved animals that are in any contact with the virus are likely to become ill and of no commercial value. There is also a great deal of suffering for infected animals.
As soon as a case is confirmed all sheep, pigs, cows and goats on that establishment must be slaughtered, the carcasses burned on site and the remains buried.
BSE has had a terrible effect on the farming industry. Our Government insisted for years that there was no risk to humans, sadly there are many CJD victims that would argue this. The BSE situation is, finally, under control and no beef over 30 months is allowed to enter the food chain.