(FMD, hoof-and-mouth disease)
Foot-and-mouth disease is a severe, highly communicable viral disease of cattle and swine. It also affects sheep and goats and other cloven hoofed animals. The disease is characterized by fever and blister-like lesions followed by erosions on the tongue and lips, in the mouth, on the teats, and between the hooves.
While many affected animals do recover, the disease results in a weakened state, loss of weight, and reduced production of milk and meat. Foot-and-mouth disease in adult sheep and goats is frequently mild or unapparent, but can cause high mortality in young animals. Sheep and goats are somtimes the reservoir of infection.The disease is virtually never harmful to humans, but is highly contagious among those animals which are vulnerable to this virus.
The United States has been free from foot-and-mouth disease since 1929.