<P> Taiwan had previously been the major exporter of pork to Japan, and among the top 15 pork producers in the world in 1996 . During the outbreak, over 3.8 million swine were destroyed at a cost of US $6.9 billion . The Taiwanese pig industry was devastated as a result, and the export market was in ruins . In 2007, Taiwan was considered free of FMD, but was still conducting a vaccination program, which restricts the export of meat from Taiwan . </P> <P> The epidemic of foot - and - mouth disease in the United Kingdom in the spring and summer of 2001 was caused by the "Type O pan Asia" strain of the disease . This episode resulted in more than 2,000 cases of the disease in farms throughout the British countryside . Around ten million sheep and cattle were killed in an eventually successful attempt to halt the disease . The County of Cumbria was the worst affected area of the country, with 843 cases . By the time the disease was halted in October 2001, the crisis was estimated to have cost Britain £ 8 billion ($13 billion) in costs to the agricultural and support industries, and to the outdoor industry . What made this outbreak so serious was the amount of time between infection being present at the first outbreak locus, and the time when countermeasures were put into operation against the disease, such as transport bans and detergent washing of both vehicles and personnel entering livestock areas . The epidemic was probably caused by pigs which had been fed infected rubbish that had not been properly heat - sterilized . Further, the rubbish is believed to have contained remains of infected meat that had been illegally imported to Britain . </P> <P> In April 2005, an Asia - 1 strain of FMD appeared in the eastern provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu . During April and May, it spread to suburban Beijing, the northern province of Hebei, and the Xinjiang autonomous region in northwest China . On 13 May, China reported the FMD outbreak to the World Health Organization and the OIE . This was the first time China has publicly admitted to having FMD . China is still reporting FMD outbreaks . In 2007, reports filed with the OIE documented new or ongoing outbreaks in the provinces of Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang . This included reports of domestic yak showing signs of infection . FMD is endemic in pastoral regions of China from Heilongjiang Province in the northeast to Sichuan Province and the Tibetan Autonomous region in the southwest . Chinese domestic media reports often use a euphemism "Disease Number Five" (五 号 病 wǔhàobìng) rather than FMD in reports because of the sensitivity of the FMD issue . In March 2010, Southern Rural News (Nanfang Nongcunbao), in an article "Breaking the Hoof and Mouth Disease Taboo", noted that FMD has long been covered up in China by referring to it that way . FMD is also called canker (口疮, literally "mouth ulcers" kǒuchuāng) or hoof jaundice (蹄 癀 tíhuáng) in China, so information on FMD in China can be found online using those words as search terms . One can find online many provincial orders and regulations on FMD control antedating China's acknowledgment that the disease existed in China, for example Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 1991 regulation on preventing the spread of Disease No. 5 . </P> <P> An infection of foot - and - mouth disease in the United Kingdom was confirmed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on 3 August 2007, on farmland located in Normandy, Surrey . All livestock in the vicinity were culled on 4 August . A nationwide ban on the movement of cattle and pigs was imposed, with a 3 - km (1.9 - mi) protection zone placed around the outbreak sites and the nearby virus research and vaccine production establishments, together with a 10 - km (6.2 - mi) increased surveillance zone . </P>

Where does hoof and mouth disease come from