Foot & Mouth
Disease (FMD)

Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE)

Organism

Virus

Prion– infectious protein

Species infested

Cloven hoofed animals(Cattle, sheep, pigs, deer, etc.)

Bovine and other animals/humans

Infectivity

Highly infectious disease (Contact, aerosol, equipment, infected animals)

Consumption of infected brain and spinal cord increases risk – infectivity unknown; contaminated feed with rendered ruminant tissues is major exposure vehicle.

Clinical signs

Blisters on feet, mouth & nasal passages

Dementia, central nervous systems

Incubation time from exposure to clinical signs

2 – 5 days

3 – 20 years

Control procedures

Slaughter of infected and exposed animals, vaccination

None

Human Safety Concerns

None

Consumption of infected nervous tissue – human disease –new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD)

Geographic Distribution

Europe, Middle East, Asia, South America

UK, Ireland and other European countries – based on consumption of feeds containing rendered infected ruminant parts in 1980’s.

Date of introduction

Known worldwide for over two centuries.  Last USA case - 1929.

BSE – first identified in cattle in UK in mid-1980’s. First human cases – mid 1990’s