# people getting foot and mouth disease

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-getting-foot-and-mouth-disease/63286>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 25, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-getting-foot-and-mouth-disease/63286 "2001-04-25T14:08:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![berdollos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-getting-foot-and-mouth-disease/63286/1 "2001-04-25T14:08:26Z")

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After being reassured on another thread that people cannot get foot and mouth disease, it now turns out that there are stories from Britain about the possibility that this could happen. I found them on the [drudgereport.com](http://drudgereport.com)

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**Author:** ![Palandine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/958977/32.png) [@Palandine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palandine)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-getting-foot-and-mouth-disease/63286/2 "2001-04-25T14:25:02Z")

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It _can_ happen; it’s just really difficult to get and it’s not a serious illness for people. The one guy they’re heavily testing in England will be only the second confirmed human case ever in Britain if he is indeed diagnosed.

Here’s a story from the BBC:  
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid\_1295000/1295672.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1295000/1295672.stm)

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**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-getting-foot-and-mouth-disease/63286/3 "2001-04-25T15:08:08Z")

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Yes after telling it us that it was not communicable, the Government scientists are now backtracking slightly and saying that it is  
i)very rare  
ii)requires direct contact with an infected animal  
iii)not communicable between humans

The guy that appears to have it was a slaughterman, so unless you are chopping up infected animals in a rather careless way, or French kissing pigs :D, I guess you are safe.

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**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2001, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-getting-foot-and-mouth-disease/63286/4 "2001-04-25T15:29:08Z")

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The Government scientists’ position, AFAIK, has always been that people _can_ catch it but that it is very rare. There was at least one well-documented case during the 1967 outbreak. However, there has also been some confusion with hand, foot and mouth disease – an unrelated human disease caused by a different virus (which animals can’t catch) – which has led to some inaccurate reporting of the likelihood of people catching it (including a caller on the _Today_ programme the other day who claimed his son had had it).

It appears that the confirmed case is a slaughterman who inadvertantly ingested some material from the carcass of an infected animal. Eve has started a thread about this in MPSIMS for those who want TMI.