Meat from animals infected with foot-and-mouth disease can be safely consumed by people, experts say.
Namibia has been battling a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak since it was confirmed in the ||Kharas region last month.
The disease has now spread to 15 farms.
This has led to restrictions on livestock movement and slaughtering, and the suspension of meat exports.
“People do not contract foot-and-mouth disease by eating meat or consuming animal products from infected animals,” says agriculture ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda.
He says FMD should not be confused with diseases that can spread from animals to humans through contaminated food.
“The current outbreak is an animal health emergency, not a human health emergency. The fact that FMD does not infect humans does, however, not mean the outbreak should be taken lightly,” Muyunda says.
According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, FMD is a severe, highly contagious viral disease affecting livestock, and has a significant economic impact.
The organisation says the disease affects cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals.
Earlier this year, the organisation said the world is failing to invest in animal health despite mounting evidence that the cost of inaction far exceeds the cost of prevention.
University of Namibia School of Veterinary Medicine associate dean Anna Marais says FMD is not a zoonotic disease, meaning it does not spread from animals to humans.
“If you eat the meat, even if the animal is infected, you can’t get sick from it,” she says.
Marais says the same applies to products such as milk and cheese from infected animals.
The concern is, however, that the FMD virus can remain in animal products and could infect other susceptible animals that come into contact with them.
Minister of agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform Inge Zaamwani yesterday said laboratory testing has so far been conducted on 2 910 head of cattle, 22 289 sheep, 4 114 goats and nine pigs. She said clinical signs have been observed in 127 head of cattle, 50 sheep, one goat and one pig.
“Humans are not a natural host, so eating properly handled and cooked beef from an infected animal does not normally cause FMD in people,” veterinarian Philemon Hoon confirms.
“Humans cannot host or breed the virus, but you can carry it passively in your nose, throat, or on your clothes and shoes to other animals,” he says.
Hoon cautions people not to confuse FMD in livestock with hand, foot and mouth disease in humans.
“FMD is completely different from human hand, foot and mouth disease, which is caused by different viruses and commonly affects children,” he says.
The Namibia Agricultural Union and the Namibia Livestock Union say animals infected with FMD can spread the virus before showing symptoms, sometimes appearing healthy for two to five days while already spreading the disease.
“Cattle usually show signs of the disease first and can therefore act as an early warning that FMD may be present in a herd,” the unions say.
They say some animals can continue carrying the virus after recovering from the disease.
Sheep and goats may be more difficult to identify because they can appear healthy while spreading the virus.
According to the unions, sheep can carry the virus for up to nine months.
