Foot-and-mouth: No human risk

A computerised image of the foot-and-mouth virus (image: Oxford University)

Doctors say there is no risk to human health from the current foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

However, there is a very similarly-named, but completely different condition called hand, foot and mouth disease, which can infect and cause illness, particularly in children.

Efforts are intensifying to try to contain the outbreak, which affects cattle, sheep, pigs and goat, in the UK this week.

There has been just one recorded case of foot-and-mouth disease infecting a human in Great Britain, which occurred in 1966.

The condition is completely unrelated to the human disease hand, foot and mouth, which is usually a mild, though very contagious infection.

Sore throat

A factsheet issued by Dorset Health Authority details how the condition affects humans.

It is caused by a strain of the Coxsackie virus and usually affects children under 10.

The virus is very infectious, so many children in a school or family can be infected if one has the disease.

It starts with a sore throat and a temperature and blisters develop inside the mouth and throat.

They can also appear on the hands and feet.

The infection spreads via mucus or faeces.

Hygiene measures

To catch the condition, you have to be in very close contact with infected person.

There is no specific treatment and sufferers tend to get better on their own within a week.

Caring for someone who has the infection involves all the usual hygiene measures.

They should wash their hands after caring for the infected person and ensure the person with the disease washes their hands before eating.

The animal disease foot-and-mouth is highly contagious and is spread by direct or indirect contact with infected animals.