What is foot and mouth disease? This is an acute viral infection that can be transmitted from a sick animal to humans. How does this happen? What are the signs and symptoms of foot and mouth disease in humans? How are people treated for this ailment? Is it possible to save an animal that is ill with this disease or not? You can find answers to all these questions by reading the article.
History and spread of the disease
For the first time, the clinical picture of this disease was described in the XVIII century. Frosch and Leffler were able to answer the question of what foot-and-mouth disease is and prove its viral etiology. They did it in 1988.
A wide spread of viral infection among animals in a large area occurs everywhere until the 21st century. Foot and mouth disease in humans at this time is recorded very rarely.
Epidemiology of the disease
Two-hoofed animals are considered a source of infection. Mostly cattle. Pigs, goats and sheep are very rarely affected. As a rule, a person becomes infected by consuming raw milk. Foot and mouth disease is also transmitted by direct contact with sick animals.
A person himself cannot infect another person. Most often, children get sick. Because it is they who consume milk as a drink. The source of adult disease is their profession. In addition, as mentioned above, a person will become infected if there is an uncontaminated dairy product in his diet.
Causes of the disease
Foot and mouth disease. What is this disease and what is its causative agent? It turns out that the main “culprit” is picornavirus, which belongs to the aftovirus family. It contains RNA and is stable in the environment. The virus remains viable on the coat of sick animals for up to one month, and on human clothing for up to 21 days. In addition, it can easily tolerate drying and freezing. The virus becomes inactive when exposed to ultraviolet rays, heating and when exposed to disinfectant solutions. Three of his stereotypes are known: A, B, C.
Primary afta appears in the mucous membrane of the oral cavity. It happens that the virus enters the bloodstream. It forms secondary aphthae in the skin of the hands and mucous membranes. After this, viremia develops. The latter, in turn, is accompanied by intoxication. This is the beginning of the disease.
Cases of death can occur if a secondary infection, myocarditis and dehydration join.
How does FMD infection occur?
The source of the disease is both wild animals and livestock. Some rodents are susceptible to this virus. Fortunately, they do not accept any significant effect in the spread of foot and mouth disease.
In turn, birds do not get this disease. But they are carriers of the disease during migration.
Animals suffering from this disease excrete the pathogen with urine, milk, feces and saliva.
The disease of foot and mouth disease is transmitted through a contact mechanism, that is, a person becomes infected when the virus enters the skin or mucous membrane. Due to its high resistance, the infection can be introduced into those areas that are far from the focus of the spread of the disease. Thus, foot and mouth disease affects farm animals.
Infection pathways
Having learned the definition of what foot and mouth disease is, we note that there are several reasons leading to the development of the disease:
- animal care;
- processing of hides and wool;
- inhalation of a dust suspension that contains the virus;
- the use of properly processed meat and dairy products from a sick animal.
Unfortunately, the natural susceptibility of people to the virus is not so high. After a person suffers a disease, a specific immunity is formed . It lasts for about 1.5 years.
Symptoms of foot and mouth disease
The incubation period of the disease lasts from a couple of days to two weeks. Foot and mouth disease starts suddenly. The body temperature rises sharply, chills are noted. Severe headache and aches in the limbs.
At the end of the day, most patients complain of a burning sensation in their mouth. Additional symptoms of the disease include damage to the mucous membrane of the urethra. Namely, in this case, patients say that they have painful urination.
When examining an infected person, signs such as pain and an increase in regional lymph nodes, severe swelling of the oral mucosa are revealed. The latter is covered with small bubbles, which are also called aphthae. Inside, there is a clear or cloudy liquid. They are located at the edges, as well as at the tip of the tongue.
Exactly after 24 hours, aphthae are opened. After them, erosion remains, which sometimes merge.
If the mucous membrane of the cavity is affected on a large scale, then it is difficult for a person to swallow, and he has difficulty in speaking. The infected person's lips are swollen. A crust appears on them. In addition, erosion can appear not only on the tongue, but also on the wings of the nose. There are cases of skin lesions near the nails and between the fingers. Sometimes the disease is characterized by the fact that in the presence of the last symptom, erosion in the genital cavity may not be.
Signs of the disease in children
As mentioned above, most often infection occurs due to the fact that the child eats the milk of a sick animal.
Foot and mouth disease in children is much more difficult than in adults. They have severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, and dyspeptic disorders. With the disease, an epithelium is formed at the site of erosion after 3 days. At this time, the fever subsides. As a rule, a full recovery in a child is observed after two weeks. But, if there are significant lesions of both the mucous membrane of the oral cavity and the skin, then this period can be delayed up to a month. Sometimes new secondary watery cavities may form.
How does the disease develop in animals?
The virus, which enters the livestock through the integument or the digestive tract, enters the epithelial cells. It is here that its reproduction and fixation takes place. Subsequently, the animal develops a serous inflammatory process. They form two primary aphthae. As a rule, livestock owners do not notice this. During this period of the development of the disease, the condition and behavior of the animal does not change. After a day, the second phase begins.
After it enters the bloodstream and into all organs. This process causes an acute febrile reaction in the animal.
As a result of the multiplication of the virus in the epidermis, a large number of secondary aphthae appear in the inter-experimental gap, oral cavity and on the skin of the nipples of the udder.
If in humans, foot and mouth disease can be treated, then in animals it is years. As a rule, in this case, all cattle that were in contact with the infected are destroyed. Otherwise, the virus can spread to other healthy animals.
Diagnosis of the disease
Foot and mouth disease in humans should be distinguished from diseases such as drug allergies and chickenpox, acute herpetic stomatitis.
The diagnosis is mainly made on the basis of the characteristic clinical signs of the disease and patient complaints.
For laboratory confirmation of the diagnosis, you can infect guinea pigs. To do this, the test material is rubbed into the skin of the pads of the paws.
Also one of the ways to diagnose foot and mouth disease is a serological test. A complement binding reaction with a specific antigen is used here. A positive reaction appears after two weeks of illness. For analysis, blood from the patient's vein will be required.
Disease complications
What is the danger of foot and mouth disease for people? The consequences of the disease are extremely rare. This may be due to various secondary infections. In children, diarrhea and vomiting can lead to dehydration.
Adults can have meningitis, myocarditis, pneumonia, and sepsis.
With the development of complications due to the disease, antibiotic treatment will be required. They will help in the fight against infection.
Disease treatment
The patient must be in the hospital. It provides proper oral care and local treatment. Methods are also used to relieve symptoms.
As long as the patient has affected areas in his mouth, he will only need to eat food in a liquid or semi-liquid digestible form. In addition, the temperature of the food should be moderate.
Topically applied ointments, such as oxolinic and interferon. Physiotherapeutic procedures are also widely practiced. Basically, patients are prescribed laser and ultraviolet radiation.
Antipyretic and analgesic drugs, as well as cardiovascular agents can be prescribed strictly only by a specialist. If necessary, a detoxification measure is carried out. Vitamins are prescribed for the general strengthening of the patient's body.
Foot and mouth disease
In general, adult patients recover two weeks after the onset of the disease. In this case, the forecast is favorable. There are no consequences.
For young children whose disease is severe, the prognosis is serious. Lethal outcome is possible.
Disease prevention
The basis of this event is veterinary monitoring of the health of farm animals. After all, foot and mouth disease is most often found in cows.
To do this, sanitary-hygienic control over the state of health and working conditions of people working in agricultural enterprises is carried out. It is necessary to vaccinate against foot and mouth disease in animals in a timely manner. There are special inactivated vaccines for this.
Individual prevention consists in observing personal hygiene measures when working with animal raw materials and livestock. In addition, it is necessary to protect against injury to the skin.
Other people, those who do not work in agriculture, should also be careful and cautious. Meat and dairy products that have undergone the necessary processing should be eaten. This mainly concerns the nutrition of children. Before giving the child meat or milk, it is necessary to subject it to thorough heat treatment. In this case, if there is a virus in food, it will die during cooking. Vaccination of people from foot and mouth disease is not carried out.
Thus, after reading this article, you can easily answer the question: “What is foot and mouth disease?”. Symptoms of the disease and preventive measures will help others to warn themselves against this disease. Remember that following a few recommendations will avoid this terrible disease and stay healthy.