I read an article on Daily News Hungary:
Hungary is currently grappling with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral infection that poses serious risks to livestock and wildlife. The disease was first detected in Kisbajcs and later confirmed in Levél, both located in Győr-Moson-Sopron County near the Slovak border. Authorities have implemented strict measures to contain the outbreak, but the situation remains precarious.
I found myself wondering about a disease I’d heard about here and there — foot-and-mouth disease. Or, as I embarrassingly called it in my head at first, “nail and mouth disease.” I mean, if it barely affects humans, why does it always seem to cause panic when it shows up in the news?
Naturally, I went down the rabbit hole. It turns out foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious virus that affects animals like cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. Not humans — or at least, not really. In very rare cases, people who handle large amounts of raw, infected meat might get a mild illness. But for the vast majority of us? Not a threat.
That made me think: If I somehow ate the meat of an infected animal, would I get sick?
Apparently, no. You’d be fine. The virus doesn’t survive proper cooking, and even in undercooked meat, the chance of a human infection is super low. It’s not a foodborne threat in the way things like salmonella or E. coli are.
But still, meat from infected animals is banned from the market in most countries. Not because it’s dangerous to people — but because it could spread the disease further to other animals, especially if the meat is handled in unhygienic conditions. Is It Deadly to Animals? Now here’s the tricky part.
FMD usually doesn’t kill adult animals, but it can still be brutal. Imagine painful blisters in your mouth and on your feet, making it hard to walk or eat. The animals lose weight, stop producing milk, and generally become very weak and unwell. Some farmers have to cull entire herds just to stop the virus from spreading.
But in young animals, like calves or piglets? It can be fatal — especially if it attacks the heart.
So while FMD isn’t the apocalypse virus I half-expected, it is a massive problem for farmers. One case can mean lockdowns, quarantines, and economic disaster.
So Why the Hysteria?
Now I get it. The panic isn’t about humans dying — it’s about the agricultural devastation the disease brings. It spreads easily, causes suffering and loss, and requires strict control. Think of it like a wildfire: it might not burn you, but it can still wipe out an entire forest if left unchecked.
It’s one of those things that doesn’t seem scary at first — until you look at the bigger picture.