Foot and mouth disease NOT a threat to humans
There's been an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in five provinces, but animal products don't pose a threat to people and are safe to consume.
Image by Ralph from Pixabay.
702'S Gugs Mhlungu talks to Dr Fundile Nyati, resident GP and CEO of Proactive Health Solutions.
The recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD), mainly impacting Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng, but also affecting the Free State and Limpopo, is a threat to the livestock industry, with other countries having placed a ban on the import of South African meat.
However, the disease poses no threat to consumers.
Not to be confused with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) - a mild viral infection that mainly affects children under the age of ten - FMD almost exclusively infects cloven-hooved animals.
"Foot and mouth disease is a severe, fast-spreading viral disease that primarily affects cloven-hooved animals. That is cows, pigs, sheep, and goats."
Dr Fundile Nyati, Resident GP and CEO of Proactive Health Solutions
It can take up to four days for symptoms to present in the infected animals, during which time they're contagious.
Dr Nyati thinks part of the cause of this outbreak was infected animals being auctioned in Utrecht, KwaZulu-Natal, and Heidelberg, Gauteng.
"Clearly, at that time, they did not show any signs that they were infected, and subsequently the farms where these were brought in, they started having the outbreak."
Dr Fundile Nyati, Resident GP and CEO of Proactive Health Solutions
Dr Nyati does add that there is a very small chance that humans can be infected, and that if that happens, the person should self-isolate and wait for the symptoms to pass, usually within 14 days.
For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article