Foot-and-mouth disease found in Europe, sparking concerns in the U.S.

The United States has not seen a case of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929, but recent infections in Europe have ignited unease across the world. FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that can be transmitted to all cloven-hoofed mammals, such as cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, deer, and llamas.  

One of the last major outbreaks occurred in the United Kingdom in 2001. More than 6 million sheep and cows were depopulated to stop the spread of the disease.  

In January, a case of FMD in water buffalo was reported in Germany. In early March, more than 1,300 infected cattle were euthanized in Hungary due to FMD. Later that month, the disease was detected in five cattle herds in Slovakia. Hungary later confirmed an additional case near the Hungary-Austria border. 

The animals that had contracted FMD were euthanized and buried to prevent the spread of the virus, but the resurgence has many concerned that it could be spreading laterally since Hungary and Slovakia share a border. 

FMD is caused by an infection of Aphthovirus, a member of the family Picornaviridae. Symptoms include blisters in the mouth and between the hooves, lameness, fever, loss of appetite, and reduced milk production in cows. There is no cure for FMD. 

“It’s not a particularly deadly disease, except in very young animals,” said Oklahoma State Veterinarian Rod Hall. “Many times, the animals become somewhat lame, so they can’t get around as well, and then the lesions in the mouth and around the lips make it difficult for them to eat. They lose weight and it causes production losses, and it takes a long time for them to come back from that. Because of the number of animals that it affects and how contagious it is, it’s a very serious disease for the livestock industry.”  

FMD is spread through saliva, nasal secretions and feces of infected animals—both wild and domestic. It is not a zoonotic disease and cannot be spread from animals to humans, but people can unknowingly transmit the disease to animals by way of contaminated food, water or clothing. 

“I want to make sure people understand this disease does not affect the quality of the meat or dairy, and that our food is still safe,” Hall said. “Even if we had a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak here, it doesn’t mean that people have to stop going to the grocery store.” 

Possible effects of FMD in the U.S.

Export markets are vulnerable when a disease like FMD starts spreading. 

“We do a lot of international trade, and because of the severity of this disease, any country that has cases of it, they immediately lose a lot of their international trade opportunities,” Hall explained. “Somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 to 15% of the beef products that the U.S. produces are sold internationally. If we get foot-and-mouth disease, we would lose the ability to sell those products, and that would cause a decrease in financial revenue for the beef producers.”  

Hall the repercussions for the swine industry would be even worse. He said the U.S. exports between 25 to 30% of its pork production, which could lead to a dramatic loss in exports and reduction in market prices if trade stopped due to FMD in the U.S. pork industry. 

“If we did get it here, it would just radiate out and devastate animal agriculture and the entire ag economy of the United States.” Hall explained.  

In the 1920s, FMD was eradicated in the U.S. by depopulating infected animals and burning and burying the carcasses. Hall said the circumstances back then were very different compared to present-day animal agriculture. 

“That was before the days of big feed yards and the cattle were more on individual ranches and not congregated together in very large bunches.” Hall said. “Cattle didn’t move all the way across the country in a couple of days like they do now. The spread of the virus was much slower than what it would be if we got the disease today.”  

An FMD vaccine is available, but Hall said producers do not routinely vaccinate for it.  

“The reason for that is there are a number of strains of foot-and-mouth disease viruses, and there’s not one vaccine that protects against all of them,” he explained.  

Hall said the standard policy is to not vaccinate until the disease is in the U.S., and at that point the exact strain of virus could be identified, and the U.S. would begin producing the correct vaccine.  

“The United States has a foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank that we can activate quickly. Within a couple of weeks, we could start getting significant doses of the vaccine against that particular strain.” 

Reinforcing biosecurity

In the last few years livestock diseases such as avian influenza, New World screwworm, African swine fever and FMD had caused concern for agricultural producers as well as U.S. Department of Agriculture officials. Hall said many within the USDA have increased their efforts to discuss biosecurity strategies with producers to protect from spreading disease. 

“We can’t impress enough on producers how easy it is to spread these diseases,” Hall said. “I would just ask them to do the things in their everyday operation that would help protect their herd or flock from the diseases we deal with all the time, such as bovine viral diarrhea and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis. When they bring in new animals, isolate them for a couple of weeks before they mix them with a herd and make sure to test for different diseases before they bring them in.” 

Hall also recommended livestock producers develop an enhanced biosecurity plan to help protect their operation in the event a disease, like FMD, is confirmed in the U.S. Hall said producers can also contact their state veterinarian’s office for help with developing a secure food supply plan.  

“Officials will sit down with the farmer or rancher and look at their operation and give them some ideas on how they can protect themselves better,” he explained. 

Hall said the best way to detect disease is to observe livestock and report any uncommon symptoms to rule out an infectious disease before it has time to become an epidemic. 

“If you see anything that seems unusual, call your veterinarian or your state veterinarian’s office,” he said. “All states have people trained in foreign animal disease diagnostics, and we have a little better idea of what those diseases look like rather than just regular accredited veterinarians. We want to find that very first case, rather than find it after it spread to 10 or 15 other places.”  

Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or lvilhauer@hpj.com. 

PHOTO: Cattle drinking. (Journal photo by Lacey Vilhauer.)