The following information has been compiled by BBC Social Action and provides some general information about foot-and-mouth disease.

What you need to know

Foot-and-mouth disease is a viral disease which can affect cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats as well as wild and domestic cloven-hooved animals.

It causes fever, followed by blisters in the mouth and on the feet.

The virus can spread through the air and can travel very long distances given the right conditions.

Heat, sunlight and disinfectants help to destroy the virus. Cold and darkness tend to keep it alive.

The virus is highly contagious to some animals and causes serious production losses to farmers.

How is foot-and-mouth disease transmitted?

Animals pick up the virus by:

Contact with infected animals

Contact with other contaminated materials (e.g. mud)

From foodstuff contaminated by the virus

Meat from the carcass of animals infected at the time of slaughter can also carry the virus.

Cattle trucks, lorries, market places, loading ramps and roads may also become contaminated.

Anyone who has been near a diseased animal can spread the disease.

Dogs, cats, horses, poultry, wild game and vermin can also carry infected material.

Can people contract foot-and-mouth disease?

It is extremely rare for Foot-and-Mouth Disease to affect humans - there was one confirmed case in the UK in 1967.

There is a human condition called hand foot-and-mouth disease which is unrelated.

Foot-and-mouth disease and food

All fresh meat currently on retail sale will not be affected by the disease.

Milk, cheese and other diary products can be safely consumed.

Foot-and-mouth in animals

Foot-and-mouth does not affect dogs, cats, or horses.

Foot-and-mouth is not fatal in most affected animals (ie. cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats as well as wild and domestic cloven hooved animals).

The virus usually runs its course within 2-3 weeks, after which time most animals recover naturally.

Dogs and foot-and-mouth

Any dogs in an area affected with foot-and-mouth disease must be kept under control by their owners.

This means they must either: Be kept in a kennel or enclosure from which they can’t escape OR be secured to a fixed object by a collar and chain OR be accompanied by and under the control of the owner or responsible person authorised by the owner.

You must not let your dog run free if you are in an area declared to be infected by foot and mouth (if you do your dog may be seized by the local authority or the police and treated as a stray.)

Advice for horse owners

Horses aren’t susceptible to infection by foot-and-mouth but they could be involved in spreading infection.

Horse owners are advised:

Don’t visit farm livestock and avoid areas contaminated with manure or slurry.

Comply with farmer's own disease precautions.

Only ride on roads, or by arrangement on dedicated farmland which has been free from livestock since 1st February 2001.

Either keep a set of dedicated clothes on farm premises or arrive in clean clothes on every occasion.

Immediately prior to leaving the farm for exercising your horse, ensure your feet are dipped in disinfectant and that your horse’s feet are picked out.

If you have dismounted in the course of your ride, then disinfect your boots before entering the farm premises.

Where possible leave vehicles outside farms or close to the farm boundary and away from livestock.

Before and after riding you should:

Disinfect all footwear used; disinfect the outside of any item that may have been in contact with other articles in general use on a farm and clean and disinfect the horse's feet.

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The information contained in this factsheet has been provided by MAFF; BBC Online; The Food Standards Agency, National Farmers Union and other sources. Information on the present Foot and Mouth position in the UK changes frequently and the BBC does not accept any responsibility for information that may have gone out of date. The BBC also does not accept responsibility for the content of non-BBC websites.