Home remedies presented as miracle cures. Pseudoscientific jargon delivered with absolute, straight-faced confidence in emotive videos. And, increasingly, the suggestion that authorities and veterinarians with decades of experience cannot be trusted.
If this feels like Covid-19 all over again, that is because the dynamics are almost identical. When fear is high and solutions are slow, misinformation spreads quickly. And it does more than create confusion – it actively undermines a resolution.
Three Covid-style myths now circulating among farmers
The current wave of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) misinformation falls into three broad categories, each mirroring patterns seen during Covid.
1. The hoax story
A widely shared Afrikaans voice note claims FMD is not viral, dismisses decades of veterinary science, and urges farmers not to report suspected cases. The message uses dense scientific terminology about RNA, immune cells and cellular biology to argue that the disease is misunderstood, exaggerated, and a hoax.
Veterinary experts say the claims are scientifically incoherent. FMD is caused by the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), a well-established and highly contagious pathogen. But the more dangerous element is the instruction not to report cases. Delayed reporting allows silent spread, prolongs movement bans, and deepens economic damage.
During Covid-19, the same pattern emerged early, with claims that SARS-CoV-2 did not exist, that the disease was misclassified, or that case reporting was inflated for political or financial gain.
2. The cure market
As farmers wait for access to the correct vaccines, a parallel marketplace of false solutions has emerged.
Products promoted through highly emotive video testimonials claim, for example, that something called nanosilver or Quantum Silver can kill the virus and prevent infection. WhatsApp messages forwarded “just in case they help” promote home remedies, such as baking-soda and citric-acid sprays. None have clinical evidence of effectiveness against FMD. Some are registered only as feed supplements, not disease treatments. And when a company is involved, there’s almost always a link to purchase the product.
The appeal is obvious. They promise a cheap, simple intervention that restores control. This is almost a direct replay of the ivermectin saga during Covid. The antiparasitic drug was, and still is, widely touted online as a “miracle cure” for Covid-19. Despite repeated clinical trials, there is still no evidence that taking it yields any meaningful benefit.
3. The conspiracy lens
Both the voice note and circulating messages frame veterinarians and authorities as part of a long-running agenda, often drawing explicit parallels with Covid-era narratives about hidden motives and manufactured crises.
This matters because once distrust takes hold, even accurate guidance struggles to land. During Covid, conspiracy content was repeatedly linked to lower compliance with proven public health measures, such as mask-wearing, and reduced vaccine uptake.
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The vacuum effect
Public health specialists say these patterns are predictable.
Dr Velile Ngidi, a public health medicine specialist, says misinformation thrives when clear, official communication does not reach communities quickly.
“This creates an information vacuum that makes the public vulnerable to being misled through misinformation and disinformation,” Ngidi adds. “These become more difficult to debunk when they reach communities first before the correct information.”
That dynamic defined much of the Covid response, and it is now visible again in agriculture.
Professor Dietmar Holm, a veterinary specialist in bovine herd health at the University of Pretoria, says the same pattern is playing out in the current FMD outbreaks.
He told News24:
Foot-and-mouth disease is the animal disease that causes the most psychological issues with anxiety, fear, and depression [amongst farmers]. That’s very well documented in science.
Holm says the emotional strain makes farming communities particularly vulnerable to false certainty and quick fixes.
“Farmers understandably become emotional, and then they panic, and then they believe anything, even claims that defy logic.”
As during Covid, the absence of widely available, proven vaccines has created a vacuum during the FMD outbreak.
Farmers facing movement bans, potential herd losses and mounting financial pressure are being asked to wait for a solution that is not yet in their hands. Into that gap step voice notes, products and self-appointed experts offering immediate answers driven less by evidence than by personal gain.
When public health misinformation changes behaviour
The consequences are not theoretical, and the messages shared “just in case” are part of the problem.
Ngidi notes that during Covid, misinformation had a measurable impact.
“With every piece of misinformation and disinformation that went viral on social media platforms around Covid-19 vaccines, we saw an immediate, sharp drop in vaccine uptake.”
This was easy to see at the time, as authorities were vaccinating thousands of people every day and monitoring this in real time, Ngidi adds.
The uptake would often recover after these untruths were debunked on the platforms that spread them, but the recovery was never really back to the original level of vaccine uptake.
There is a similar risk with FMD. Delayed reporting, relaxed biosecurity, or reliance on unproven treatments instead of evidence-based controls increases the risk of transmission and prolongs outbreaks.
One viral voice note currently circulating draws on direct comparisons to Covid-19, claims that FMD is a government hoax, and suggests that not only can farmers cure the disease with simple home remedies, but also that reporting it, as required by law in South Africa, is largely unnecessary.
“In the middle of an outbreak, that combination is extremely dangerous,” Holm says.
A waste of resources
Responding to misinformation carries real costs, diverting time and scarce resources away from controlling the disease itself.
Ngidi says monitoring what communities are hearing, sharing and responding to is essential, but resource-intensive.
But the financial impact extends beyond the direct cost of countering false claims.
Agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo says disinformation and poor communication risk eroding trust at a time when controlling the outbreak depends on coordination among farmers, veterinarians, and the state.
“In uncertain times, as today in the South African livestock industry, it is more important than ever before to ensure that we follow the official and scientific guidance on the management of the disease,” Sihlobo told News24.
“At times, it may be appealing to follow those who promise to take the state to task, but the appropriate thing is to continuously collaborate with government and scientists to get through this crisis.”
Opportunism in a crisis
Not all misinformation is malicious. Some spreads through anxious farmers, who share anything they believe might help.
Disinformation is different. It is false information pushed deliberately to mislead or profit from a crisis.
Both are present in the current outbreak, as they were during Covid. Products are dressed up in scientific language without clinical evidence. Anecdotes and testimonials are presented as proof. Messages are timed to coincide with peak fear, with links to buy products never far behind.
The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the simple rule that misinformation spreads rapidly during times of uncertainty and distress. And that once it takes hold, it is difficult and costly to reverse.
The same dynamics are now playing out in the livestock sector. As the virus spreads through herds, anxiety spreads through farming communities. And alongside both, opportunistic disinformation promising quick fixes or soft targets circulates in WhatsApp groups and on social media platforms.
Experts warn that there is no quick fix for foot-and-mouth disease and reiterate that its containment depends on early reporting, strict biosecurity measures, movement controls, and vaccination when available.
South Africa has seen this cycle before. When uncertainty grows, disinformation fills the gap. And once it spreads, it slows the response, makes the situation harder to manage and drives up the cost – even when those sharing it believe they are helping.
As South Africa battles recurring outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, false cures, conspiracy claims and viral voice notes are spreading among farmers – echoing Covid-era disinformation and, in some cases, actively undermining efforts to contain it, writes Andrew Thompson.
