Although seldom lethal in adult animals, it causes serious production losses and is a major constraint to international trade in livestock and livestock products.
Foot and mouth disease spreads mots rapidly during the summer months because of the greater traffic in animals then.
Foot and mouth disease is most commonly associated with movement of infected animals and their contact with susceptible animals.
During the early stages of disease, infected animals shed virus in all their excretions and secretions, including their breath. The disease is characterized by depression, fever, and the appearance of vesicles filled with clear fluid in certain mucous membranes and portions of the skin.
The essential pathological change in the tongue is necrosis of epithelial cells in the stratum spinosum, intracellular edema and granulocytic infiltration.
The disease is endemic and at a high prevalence in many countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia and is also present in parts of South America.
Foot and mouth disease in cattle
