
Family Picornaviridae, genus Aphthovirus (Belsham 1993)
Foot and mouth disease, hoof-and-mouth disease
First observed in 1514 in Italy (AVMA 2007)
Nine outbreaks of foot and mouth disease occurred in the U.S. between 1905 and 1929. It is widespread through the world, but it was eradicated from the U.S. in 1929. (Segarra and Rawson 2001)
Contact with infected animals (CFSPH 2007); eating infected meat (Segarra and Rawson 2001)
Contagious disease of cattle, swine, sheep, goats, deer, and other cloven-hoofed animals. Foot and mouth disease is considered to be the most economically devastating livestock disease in the world, and represents a worst-case scenario for livestock diseases because of the variety of species involved, rapid spread, and difficulty in controlling outbreaks. The 2001 FMD outbreak in Great Britain resulted in the slaughter of more than 6 million animals and an estimated economic loss of 20 billion dollars. (AVMA 2007)
Spotlights
Federally Regulated
U.S. Government Printing Office. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations.
Title 9: Animals and Animal Products, Part 94
Images
Iowa State University. Center for Food Security and Public Health.
Selected Resources
The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source. Or, to display all related content view all resources for Foot and Mouth Disease.
Partnership
UN. Food and Agriculture Organization.
Federal Government
USDA. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Veterinary Services.
International Government
Australian Government. Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
Academic
Iowa State University. Center for Food Security and Public Health.
Citations
American Veterinary Medical Association. 2007. Foot and Mouth Disease Backgrounder (PDF | 28 KB).
Belsham, G.J. 1993. Distinctive features of foot-and-mouth disease virus, a member of the picornavirus family; aspects of virus protein synthesis, protein processing and structure. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 60(3):241-260.
Center for Food Security and Public Health. 2007. Foot and Mouth Disease: Fiebre Aftosa (PDF | 309 KB). Iowa State University.
Segarra, A.E. and J.M. Rawson. 2001. Foot and Mouth Disease: A Threat to U.S. Agriculture (PDF | 41 KB) (CRS Report for Congress RS20890). Congressional Research Service.