What is FMD? This is an acute viral infection that can be transmitted from a sick animal to a person. How does this happen? What are the signs and symptoms of FMD in humans? How are people treated for this disease? Is it possible to save an animal that suffers from this disease or not? You can find out the 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 Loeffler were able to answer the question of what foot-and-mouth disease is and prove its viral etiology. They did it in 1988.
The widespread viral infection among animals over a large area is found everywhere until the 21st century. FMD in humans at this time is recorded very rarely.
Epidemiology of the disease
The source of infection are two-toed animals. Basically, they include cattle. Pigs, goats and sheep are very rarely affected. As a rule, a person becomes infected by drinking raw milk. FMD is also transmittedthrough direct contact with sick animals.
The person himself cannot infect another person. Most often, children get sick. Because it is they who consume milk as a drink. The source of diseases of adults is their profession. In addition, as mentioned above, a person will become infected if there is an undisinfected dairy product in his diet.
Causes of disease
FMD. What is this disease and what is its causative agent? It turns out that the main "culprit" is picornavirus, which belongs to the family of aphthoviruses. It contains RNA and is stable in the external environment. The virus remains viable on the hair 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, heat and when exposed to disinfectant solutions. 3 of his stereotypes are known: A, B, C.
Primary aphtha appears in the oral mucosa. It happens that the virus enters the blood. 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 lethal outcomes 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, somethey do not take a significant effect in the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
In turn, birds do not get sick with this disease. But they are carriers of the disease during migration.
Animals suffering from this disease excrete the pathogen in urine, milk, feces and saliva.
FMD is transmitted by contact, that is, a person becomes infected when the virus enters the skin or mucous membranes. Due to its high resistance, the infection can be introduced into areas that are far from the focus of the spread of the disease. Thus, foot and mouth disease infects farm animals.
Routes of infection
Having learned the definition of what FMD is, we note that there are several reasons leading to the development of the disease:
- pet care;
- treatment of hides and wool;
- inhalation of dust suspension that contains the virus;
- eating unprocessed meat and dairy products from a sick animal.
Unfortunately, people's natural susceptibility to the virus is not that high. After a person suffers a disease, he develops specific immunity. It is enough for about 1.5 years.
FMD symptoms
The incubation period of the disease lasts from a couple of days to two weeks. FMD starts suddenly. The body temperature rises sharply, chills are noted. There is a severe headache and aching limbs.
At the end of the day, most patients complain of a burning sensation in the mouth. For additional symptomsdiseases 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 soreness 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 them there is a clear or cloudy liquid. They are located along the edges, as well as on the tip of the tongue.
Exactly 24 hours later, aphthas open. After them, erosions remain, 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 speech. The lips of the infected 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 around the nails and between the fingers. Sometimes the disease is characterized by the fact that in the presence of the last symptom, there may not be erosion in the genital cavity.
Signs of illness in children
As mentioned above, most often the infection occurs due to the fact that the child eats the milk of a sick animal.
FMD in children is much more severe than in adults. They have severe abdominal pain, diarrhea and dyspeptic disorders. In case of illness, an epithelium is formed at the site of erosion after 3 days. At this time, the fever subsides. As a rule, a complete recovery in a child is observed in two weeks. But if there are significantlesions of both the mucous membrane of the oral cavity and the skin, then this period can be delayed up to a month. Occasionally, new secondary watery cavities may form.
How does disease develop in animals?
The virus that enters the body of livestock through the outer integument or the digestive tract, penetrates into 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 development of the disease, the state and behavior of the animal does not change in any way. In a day, the second phase begins.
After it enters the blood and 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 interhoof gap, oral cavity and on the skin of the udder teats.
If a person can treat foot and mouth disease, then in animals years. As a rule, in this case, all livestock that has been in contact with the infected is destroyed. Otherwise, the virus may spread to other he althy animals.
Diagnosis of disease
FMD in humans should be distinguished from diseases such as drug allergy and chickenpox, acute herpetic stomatitis.
Diagnosis is mainly based on the characteristic clinical signs of the disease and the patient's complaints.
Also for laboratory confirmation of the diagnosis, you caninfect guinea pigs. To do this, they rub the test material into the skin of their paw pads.
Also, one of the ways to diagnose FMD is a serological test. Here, a complement fixation reaction with a specific antigen is used. A positive reaction appears after two weeks of the disease. The analysis will require blood from the patient's vein.
Complications of the disease
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.
If complications develop due to the disease, antibiotic treatment will be required. They will help in the fight against infection.
Treatment of disease
The patient must be in the hospital. Proper oral care and topical treatment is carried out here. Methods are also used to relieve symptoms.
As long as the patient has affected areas in his mouth, he will need to take food only in a liquid or semi-liquid easily digestible form. In addition, food temperature should be moderate.
Topically applied ointments such as oxolinic and interferon. Physiotherapy procedures are also widely practiced. Basically, patients are prescribed laser and ultraviolet irradiation.
Antipyretic and analgesic drugs, as well as cardiovascular drugs, can only be prescribed strictlyspecialist. If necessary, a detoxification event is carried out. Vitamins are prescribed for general strengthening of the patient's body.
FMD forecast
In general, adult patients recover within two weeks of onset. In this case, the prognosis is favorable. There are no consequences.
For young children, whose disease is severe, the prognosis is serious. Possible fatal outcome.
Disease prevention
The basis of this event is the veterinary control of the he alth of farm animals. After all, FMD is most common in cows.
To do this, sanitary and hygienic control over the state of he alth and working conditions of people working at 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.
The rest of the people, those who do not work in the field of agriculture, should also be careful and careful. Meat and dairy products that have undergone the necessary processing should be eaten. Basically, it concerns the nutrition of children. Before giving a child meat or milk, it is necessary to subject it to a thorough heat treatment. In this case, if there is a virus in the food, it will die during cooking. Vaccinationpeople 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 help you avoid this terrible disease and stay he althy.
