Foot-and-mouth disease is a serious viral herd disease, highly contagious and with considerable economic repercussions. The foot-and-mouth virus outbreak detected since the beginning of the year in several European countries has put the Old Continent on alert, while countries like Spain, free of the disease, look cautiously at their neighbors and strive to investigate this pathogen, the most dangerous for livestock. It is a pathology that affects bovines and porcines as well as ovines, caprines, and other biungulate ruminants but not transmissible to humans, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). In a susceptible population, morbidity is almost 100%, with intensive breeding animals being more susceptible than traditional breeds. The disease is rarely fatal in adult animals, but mortality among young animals is usually high, according to WOAH. In Spain, the disease has not been detected since June 1986, when it was found in a bovine farm in the Toledo region ...