Given the high incidence of the disease in animals, both in the past and in more recent outbreaks worldwide, its occurrence in man is rare 3 so experience of the human infection is limited. 2įoot and mouth disease is a zoonosis, a disease transmissible to humans, but it crosses the species barrier with difficulty and with little effect. Infected animals secrete numerous virus particles before clinical signs appear. 1 In animals the disease presents with acute fever, followed by the development of blisters chiefly in the mouth and on the feet. The current outbreak in the United Kingdom is due to the highly virulent pan-Asiatic serotype O. It is caused by a virus of the family Picornaviridae, genus Aphthovirus, of which there are seven serotypes (O, A, C, SAT1, SAT2, SAT3, and Asia1). 1 The disease affects all cloven-hoofed animals and is the most contagious of animal diseases. The current major outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) is the latest in a series of disasters that are putting British agriculture under stress.
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