Download Information Leaflet on these diseases contains further details

Foot and Mouth
Symptoms and causes
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a disease, which causes fever, followed by the
development of blisters- chiefly in the mouth and on the feet. The disease is caused
by a virus; FMD is probably more infectious than any other disease affecting man or
animals and spreads rapidly if uncontrolled.
Susceptable animals• Cattle & Sheep
• Pigs & Goats
• Deer
Elephants, hedgehogs, rats and any wild cloven-footed animals can also contract it.
FMD is prevalent in parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America, with
sporadic outbreaks in disease-free areas such as the UK.
Effects
Foot-and-mouth disease is rarely fatal, except in the case of very young animals,
which may die without showing any symptoms. In very rare exceptions, a severe
form of the disease may cause sudden death in older animal stock.
Other effects
• reduction in the milk yield in a dairy herd
• Mastitis may develop and in some cases chronic heart disease occurs.
• Blisters on animals feet burst are likely to become infected; this may lead to
lameness and loss of a hoof.
Infection and contamination
The virus is present in the fluid from the blisters, and it can also occur in the saliva,
milk and dung. Heat, sunlight and disinfectants will destroy the virus, whereas cold
and darkness tend to keep it alive. Airborne spread of the virus can take place and
the disease may be spread several miles by this route. Animals pick up the virus
either by direct contact with an infected animal, by contact with foodstuffs or other
things which have been contaminated by such an animal, or by eating or coming into
contact with some part of an infected carcase.
Foot-and-mouth disease is extremely infectious. Trucks, market places, and loading
ramps - in or over which infected animals have travelled - are dangerous until
disinfected. Roads may also become contaminated, and the virus may be carried on
the wheels of passing vehicles. Stockmen who have attended diseased animals can
spread the disease from their clothes. Dogs, cats, poultry, wild game and vermin
may also carry infection.
Bluetongue
What is Bluetongue?
The disease is caused by a virus and spread by biting midges. It is not infectious
from animal to animal but depends upon the insect vector to transmit the virus from
one animal to another in much the same way as malaria is transmitted from person
to person. Of the domestic animals, sheep are the most seriously affected, Signs
include swelling of the head, high fever, nasal discharge, lameness, pneumonia and
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interference with the blood supply to the tongue and lips, which turn blue or even
black.
How does Bluetongue affect deer?
The susceptibility of deer depends on the species exposed as well as being
dependent on the strain of the disease (there are 24 individual types worldwide) Red
deer, sika, fallow are only slightly affected by the disease (much like cattle) These
species of deer may however act as a reservoir for the disease and when infected
multiply the virus without clinical signs. White tailed deer have suffered large scale
die offs in the US as a result of exposure to Bluetongue strain BTV 17.
In 2007 there was a Bluetongue outbreak in the UK. The most likely source for this
strain being brought the UK was by infected midges blown across from the Low
Countries. In Europe where the BTV8 strain has been circulating for some years,
monitoring in Germany and Belgium has confirmed that red, roe and fallow have
been exposed to the virus however only 1 red deer and 1 fallow deer showed very
mild clinical symptoms (mouth lesions).
The European situation is very different to the US situation where Bluetongue 17
outbreaks have occurred as well as outbreaks of Epizootic Haemorrhagic Disease
[EHD] a disease whose clinical symptoms closely mirror that of Bluetongue.
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