Horses and Foot and Mouth Disease

HORSES AND FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

Myth: We have relatives coming from overseas here to our farm in North America and I am so worried about our horses getting Foot and Mouth Disease. I know chances are slim with all the precautions being taken but I am still worried.

Fact: Horses, like man do not, cannot get the disease, and they cannot carry the disease in the medical sense, though they can transmit it via their hooves, just as humans can transmit it on their boots, clothing, etc.

Foot-and-Mouth disease is an acute infectious viral disease, causing fever, followed by the development of Vesticles (blisters) chiefly in the mouth and on the feet. It is probably more infectious than any other disease affecting animals and spreads rapidly if uncontrolled.

It affects cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and all other wild or domestic cloven-hoofed animals. Elephants, hedgehogs and rats may also be susceptible.