A social media post alleged that an influx of immigrants is bringing a livestock disease eradicated since 1929 back into the U.S., but that’s news to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
A Feb. 15 Instagram post used a meme from “The Simpsons” with text misspelling “vaxxed” and “unvaxxed” that said, “The people who forced you to get vaxed to keep your job let in 17 million unvaxed and unemployed.” The post’s caption read, “They’re bringing different diseases in. Foot and mouth disease is back. We got rid of that fifty years ago.”
This Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The claim is wrong on two points. First, it vastly overstates how many people have entered the U.S. illegally under President Joe Biden, as PolitiFact reported in January. Second, foot-and-mouth disease has not been detected in the U.S. since 1929.
(Screenshot/Instagram)
There have not been 17 million people “let in” to the U.S. in recent years. Since February 2021, Biden’s first full month in office, there have been about 8.8 million nationwide encounters with migrants at U.S. borders, data through January 2024 shows. That figure counts encounters, not people; some may have tried to enter multiple times.
About 2.3 million people were released into the U.S. at the southern border under Biden’s administration, Homeland Security Department data shows. Another 356,000 children were let in and placed in government custody. There have been more than 3.7 million expulsions, removals and returns under Biden, the data shows.
The claim that foot-and-mouth disease is back as a result of migrants entering the U.S is inaccurate, said Lyndsay Cole, a spokesperson for the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
“There are not currently any cases of foot-and-mouth disease in livestock in the United States,’” Cole told PolitiFact.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that affects livestock, such as cows, sheep, pigs and other animals with divided hoofs, according to the inspection service.
The disease can spread quickly among livestock, but it is not a public health or food safety threat for humans, Cole said. She said the agency conducts about 2,600 investigations yearly into foreign animal diseases to safeguard the nation’s livestock supply, and that foot-and-mouth disease has not been detected in the U.S. since 1929.
It’s very rare for humans to get the virus, perhaps through a lab accident or direct contact with an infected animal, but humans can still transmit it, said Donald Forthal, a professor at the University of California, Irvine’s Center for Virus Research.
“Humans can carry the virus, for example on soiled shoes (and) clothes,” Forthal said.
To keep foot-and-mouth disease from entering the U.S., the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service sets regulations for trade and agricultural products brought into the country, and works closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection at border crossings to inspect imports of livestock and plants, Cole said.
The inspection service’s website says CBP screens cargo and prevents travelers from bringing in “any products of concern.” Travelers must declare all food items and plant and animal materials upon entry and report recent travel to farms and livestock facilities.
There is a similarly named common childhood viral illness called hand, foot and mouth disease that may have been confused with the animal disease. They are completely different viruses.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is common in children younger than 5 years old, although anyone can get it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s contagious and causes sores and rashes, but it’s usually not serious, the CDC said.
Hand, foot and mouth disease usually spreads in the late summer and fall. It’s already common here, Forthal said.
“Anybody traveling with the infection could spread it,” Forthal said. “Since it’s a common infection here and elsewhere, migration from outside of the U.S. is not at all necessary for spread.”
An Instagram post’s claim that 17 million immigrants let into the U.S. has resulted in the reemergence of foot-and-mouth disease in the country is wrong. There are no current cases of foot-and-mouth disease. The claim is False.
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.
