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Uncovering how foot-and-mouth disease spreads: Why does it spread so quickly?
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a viral disease that can have catastrophic effects on cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle and pigs. The disease's routes of transmission are extremely diverse and efficient, allowing it to spread rapidly from farm to farm. Foot-and-mouth disease viruses are usually spread through direct contact with infected animals, contaminated equipment, vehicles, clothing and feed, and even through wild predators. This makes effective control of the disease increasingly challenging.
After being infected with foot-and-mouth disease virus, animals may show severe symptoms such as high fever and blisters in the mouth and hoofs within just a few days, which may even affect the entire agricultural production.
Symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease usually include high fever, drooling, and blisters inside the mouth and on the hooves. These broken blisters may cause painful lameness and severely impact the animal's weight gain and milk production. Although many animals eventually recover from the disease, some individuals may become asymptomatic carriers, meaning they still have the virus in their bodies but appear healthy on the outside.
Diversity of transmission channels
The main transmission routes of foot-and-mouth disease virus include:
- Animal contact: Infected animals come into direct contact with healthy animals or the virus is transmitted through bodily fluids.
- Airborne transmission: The virus spreads over long distances through aerosols, especially in dense intensive farming environments.
- Fomite transmission:Contaminated agricultural equipment, transportation and feed can retain viruses for long periods of time and become potential vectors of transmission.
In some cases, the virus can spread further through carriers, such as domestic dogs or wolves. This suggests that even non-host animals can inadvertently spread disease.
Vaccines and control measures
Many countries rely on vaccination as a strategy to control foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks. However, the effectiveness of vaccines is challenged by the continuous mutation of the virus. There is no cross-immunity between each serotype, meaning one vaccine cannot prevent infection with other serotypes. This has also led to restrictions on market trade, as many countries are unwilling to accept livestock products from countries that use vaccines.
Measures to control the outbreak include quarantine, destruction of infected and healthy animals, and bans on the import of animal products from affected countries. While these measures may be effective, the impact on agricultural economies is often far-reaching.
Foot-and-mouth disease is not only an animal disease, it also takes a heavy toll on the agricultural economy, with many countries losing their export markets due to infection.
Reviewing outbreaks in history
Historically, foot-and-mouth disease has caused huge economic losses in many countries. For example, a 1967 outbreak in the UK resulted in the destruction of 442,000 animals, estimated losses of £37 billion, and affected the entire country. In addition, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Taiwan in 1997 resulted in the culling of more than 3.8 million pigs and nearly collapsed Taiwan's pork export market.
The connection between humans and animals
Although infection with foot-and-mouth disease in humans is extremely rare, humans can still contract the virus through direct contact with infected animals. According to reports, most of these cases originated from laboratory accidents. The threat of foot-and-mouth disease to agriculture far exceeds its impact on human health, which also makes related prevention and control work particularly important.
Facing the challenges of the future
With the acceleration of globalization, the transmission routes of foot-and-mouth disease may become more diverse, which requires that existing prevention and control measures must be constantly updated as the times change. Researchers are working to find more effective vaccines to combat the changing landscape of foot-and-mouth disease. In the future, how to balance animal health, economic interests and the impact on global trade will become a major challenge for participants.
In the journey against foot-and-mouth disease, how can we effectively use technology for disease monitoring and control to prevent another outbreak?
