It affects all susceptible cloven-footed animals, including domestic and wild bovines
The virus causes a high fever for two or three days, followed by blisters inside the mouth and on the feet that may rupture and cause lameness
It can be spread by infected animals through aerosols, through contact with contaminated farming equipment, vehicles, clothing, or feed, and by domestic and wild predators
Humans can be infected with foot-and-mouth disease through contact with infected animals, but this is extremely rare. Some cases were caused by laboratory accidents. Because the virus that causes FMD is sensitive to stomach acid, it cannot spread to humans via consumption of infected meat, except in the mouth before the meat is swallowed. Symptoms of FMD in humans include malaise, fever, vomiting, red ulcerative lesions (surface-eroding damaged spots) of the oral tissues, and sometimes vesicular lesions (small blisters) of the skin
Why in news? Agriculture ministry has conceived a ‘FMD Mukta Bharat‘ (FMD Free India) programme to cover all the states which have not yet been covered under the six monthly vaccination scheme