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Foot-and-Mouth Disease: No Serious Danger to Humans
If you’re planning a trip to Europe, rest assured. The recent foot-and-mouth epidemic that has swept the continent poses no serious harm to humans, experts say. However, the disease has sickened farm animals across Great Britain, as well as in other Western-European countries. And while the virus rarely if ever affect us humans, we can play an unwitting role in spreading it.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly infectious virus that primarily affects cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and deer. It has been known to infect humans, but such cases are extremely rare and only occur in those who have had prolonged contact with infected animals. In the current outbreak, only one suspected (and unconfirmed) human case has been reported; the suspected victim is a slaughter-house worker. In animals symptoms begin with blisters on mouths and hooves and chronic lameness. Eventually milk production can dry up, and animals might experience abortions or sterility. The disease itself is rarely fatal to animals and also affects humans mildly. Infected animals (as well as those suspected of having risked exposure) are usually slaughtered, however, because animal symptoms are not reversible. (Humans, on the other hand, recover fully and quickly.) In addition, all farmland that has been exposed is sprayed with strong disinfectant.
Foot-and-mouth disease has spread so rapidly because it’s very difficult to control. It can take several days for symptoms to occur after the animal has been exposed. Animals pick up the virus through contact with contaminated feed or other items, by eating or coming into contact with some part of an infected carcass, or by direct or airborne contact. The latter cause is where humans come in--because of the airborne nature of the virus, it can cling to the soles of shoes that have stepped onto contaminated soil, as well as to the tires of vehicles that have tread on infected ground.
Within two months of the beginning of the crisis, the disease has struck farms across Great Britain, with nearly 1,200 cases reported. The Netherlands has experienced more than 20 cases, France two, and Ireland one. Other nations are scrambling to make sure their own animals have not been afflicted. EU countries have initiated a vaccination plan that entails disinfecting farmlands as well as zoos within 16 miles of infected farms (to protect rare breeds).
Countries worldwide have taken strict measures to restrict beef and animal-feed imports from infected places to curb risk of spreading the disease further. Many nations even ban imports from countries that vaccinate because inoculated animals have the antibodies in their blood, making it difficult to distinguish them from animals that actually have the disease. Inspection has been tightened at international airports and critical ports worldwide. With no new cases reported in France and Ireland in three weeks, the two countries seem to have the disease under control and the EU is beginning to lift restrictions on French and Irish livestock exports.
Great Britain has made local strides to stem the spread of the disease. City dwellers have been asked to stay out of the countryside, walking and hiking tours in the country have been curtailed, cars in certain parts of the nation are disinfected at roadblocks, and disinfecting mats have been distributed at airports and other transport points to rid shoes of any contamination.
Britain fears that vacationers will cancel Easter and summer holidays due to alarm over media images of burning pyres of animal carcasses. Indeed, the epidemic has not left the farming industry, or tourism, unscathed. But with a surge of hope, Stonehenge reopened to tourists recently after being closed for over five weeks; the site was closed due to its proximity to potentially contaminated sheep-grazing pastures. The British government has also reopened several national parks to the public.
While these protective measures have scared away concerned vacationers, the British authorities assure the public that it’s perfectly safe for humans to travel through these areas--but by unknowingly walking or driving on contaminated land, visitors are aiding in the spread of the virus. If you’re traveling to Great Britain, try to stick to urban areas as much as possible; if you are journeying through the country, stay aware of your surroundings and follow the aforementioned rules.
Vacationers should also note that foot-and-mouth disease has no relation to mad cow disease, an illness that struck Europeans in the mid-1990s (mostly in Britain, with a few cases elsewhere in Western Europe). Mad cow disease was transmitted by feeding parts of infected animals to live animals. Britain implemented a number of controls on meatpacking and animal feed at the onset of the outbreak, and mad cow disease has since been greatly diminished. However, if you're truly concerned, it's easy to cut your chance of contracting this extremely rare brain-wasting disease down to zero: Don't eat beef while on your vacation.
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