Foot and mouth disease

Definition of Foot and mouth disease

From the elephant glossary Section: disease

Relevant Literature about Foot and mouth disease
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Even-toed ungulates and elephants are susceptible to FMD.

3 elephants that died 2001 in New Delhi have been reported to be infected with FMD. Later follow-up confirmed as type O. Type O FMD virus was also reported to have caused the disease in five wild Asian elephants in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka, India, in 2002.

Records about Foot and mouth disease from the Gone Astray: Elephant care manual for Mahouts and camp managers (Thailand)

Foot and mouth disease is an important contagious disease of hoofed livestock. This highly infectious disease is often found in cattle, water buffalo, and pigs. Foot and mouth disease is a virus that in Thailand is contracted by elephants mainly through contact with infected cattle and water buffalo. The disease is not common among elephants.

Livestock infected with foot and mouth disease are usually destroyed, but because elephants are considered to be very important, having spiritual importance in Thai culture, they are not destroyed.

The path of infection:

Infection can come from inhaling the virus which can be carried in the air.

Infection can come from direct contact with other animal's sores and bodily secretions.

Foot and mouth disease virus is also found in faeces, urine, milk, saliva and even in the blood, bone, meat, etc., of infected livestock. Infection can come from infected food and water.

After infection, the virus incubates for 2-5 days before the symptoms are noticeable.

Clinical signs:

A low fever

Listless and inactive

The elephant's mouth has blisters [vesicles], that are at first white and small but then grow. The Feet also suffer blisters that turn to open sores, making it difficult for the elephant to eat and to walk.

Limping is sometimes the first indicator of the disease, and sometimes the footpad will slough.

The elephant salivates copiously and often appears to be drooling.

Loss of appetite

Treatment:

Immediately separate the infected animal from other elephants.

Take the infected elephant to a shady, clean and quiet place.

Feed the elephant with soft, highly nutritious, and easy to digest food, such as ripe bananas.

Keep a careful eye on all the uninfected animals in the Herd.

Prevent any Mahouts who have had contact with the infected animal from having contact with any other elephants (or other hoofed livestock) until they have bathed and changed clothing.

Quickly consult with a veterinarian in order to treat the sick animal and to consider vaccinating the as yet uninfected elephants in the Herd.

Mahouts must be very careful that elephants with FMD do not get secondary infections, to which they are very vulnerable.

Treating elephants afflicted with foot and mouth disease takes many months before complete, and recovery is usually slow because in Thailand conditions are usually very unsanitary and FMD-infected animals are highly susceptible to secondary infections. Prevention:

Foot and mouth disease can be prevented by regularly vaccinating cattle, water buffalo, goats, and pigs that are raised near the elephants. Vaccinating these animals is easier and more convenient than vaccinating elephants, because there is at present no vaccine especially prepared for elephants.

If forced to work in border areas where elephants and livestock might have come from Myanmar [Burma], Lao PDR [Laos], and Cambodia, be very careful that elephants should not come into contact with livestock where it is unclear whether or not they have been vaccinated against foot and mouth disease.

Consult with the district Livestock Department veterinarian about the presence of the disease before coming to work in any border area.

Elephant care manual for Mahouts and camp managers, Preecha Phuangkum, Richard C. Lair and Taweepoke Angkawanith

From Biology, Medicine, and Surgery of Elephants, 2006 by Murray Fowler, Susan K. Mikota

Foot and mouth disease (FMD, aftosa, aphthous fever, fiebra aftosa, fièvre apthouse, maulund-klauenseuche, hoof and mouth disease) is a highly contagious but rarely fatal viral disease, primarily of cattle, sheep, swine, and goats, but also affecting other domestic and wild ruminants and nonruminants (armadillo Dasypus novencinctus, nutria Myocastor coypus, capybara Hydrochaeris hydrocaeris, elephant, and hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus). FMD is characterized by vesicular lesions and, subsequently, erosions of the oral mucosa and skin of the Feet.

With appropriate general nursing care, most elephants with FMD will survive and pose no
threat to other animals. Provide soft feed to counter reluctance to eat. Foot-slipper sloughs will require prolonged dressings and the use of protective boots. There is no evidence to indicate that elephants remain a carrier following infection. Nonetheless, governments may dictate what should be done with an affected elephant.

Vaccination is a complicated situation, with numerous antigenically distinct strains. Some countries, such as the United States and Canada, have a policy of euthanizing any affected animal, and the use of vaccines is prohibited. Public pressure on governments may prompt changes in regulations at any time, as experienced in the United Kingdom and France during a recent outbreak of FMD there. Vaccination may be recommended in some parts of the world in the face of an outbreak in
livestock in the area.

Biology, Medicine, and Surgery of Elephants, 2006 by Murray Fowler, Susan K. Mikota

Foot and mouth disease is mentioned on 0 other pages

Reference list Koehl, Dan, (2025). Foot and mouth disease. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 20 September 2021 at https://www.elephant.se/index.php?id=223. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

*FAOGONE
*FOWLER

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