Sir, - Some time in either late 1961 or early 1962 my father, Eoin, got foot-and-mouth disease from drinking pasteurised milk in Paris, where we were living at the time.
The symptoms included blisters inside the mouth, a swollen tongue, a fever and drowsiness. He was unable to eat and could barely drink more than a few drops of water at a time as a result of the swollen tongue. He had to sleep propped up in bed because of the danger of suffocation. A local doctor said that it was the fievre afteuse - foot-and-mouth disease - and prescribed the appropriate medication. Thankfully, my father, who was a healthy man, recovered.
I write to dispel the entirely false reports in the newspapers, television and radio that humans cannot get this disease by eating the meat or drinking the milk of infected cattle, or indeed that we cannot get it at all. - Yours, etc.,
Stephen MacWhite, Royal Terrace West, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.