Foot and mouth disease (FMD) has major effects on international trade in cloven-hoofed animals and products derived from them. Although people are not susceptible to FMD, its effects on high producing animals such as dairy cows and intensively farmed pigs can be catastrophic, and this has led to massive investment in eradication of the disease from industrialised countries. These countries are understandably anxious to prevent introduction or re-introduction of FMD. The result is that producers of beef and other meat derived from cloven-hoofed animals in areas that are not recognised as free of FMD are confronted by non-tariff barriers to trade. Producers in southern Africa are particularly affected because the SAT (South African Territories) serotypes of FMD viruses evolved in and are endemic to most African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) populations. Nearly all free-living buffalo become infected with SAT viruses without developing obvious disease within the first year of life. Breeding herds periodically transmit SAT viruses to other species, including domestic livestock. Available evidence indicates that breeding herds containing acutely infected calves are mostly responsible for such transmission. Elsewhere in the world, other FMD serotypes (O, A and Asia 1) are almost exclusively associated with domestic livestock, mainly cattle and pigs. Wildlife are therefore insignificant in maintaining FMD outside Africa. Management of FMD in most parts of the world consequently targets domestic livestock, and eradication of FMD in such situations is a feasible goal. However, that is not the case for the SAT serotypes (SAT1, SAT2 and SAT3) in southern Africa (Thomson et al, 2017).