South Africa: Fake Foot-and-Mouth Disease 'Cures' Target Desperate Farmers

A Durban man promotes Quantum.Silver while a WhatsApp message claims baking soda and citric acid mixture can heal infected cattle.

Professor Dietmar Holm from University of Pretoria says there is no cure for foot-and-mouth disease and the products are dangerous.

Farmers battling foot-and-mouth disease are being targeted with fake cures on social media.

Two products are going viral on WhatsApp and Facebook, promising cheap ways to kill the virus or save infected cattle.

One video shows a Durban man calling himself "Dr Thomas Volker" promoting a product called Quantum.Silver. He claims it kills foot-and-mouth disease virus.

Another WhatsApp message claims baking soda and citric acid sprayed on hooves, mouth and nose can heal cattle.

But veterinary experts say the products are rubbish, News24 reports.

Professor Dietmar Holm is a veterinary specialist in bovine herd health at the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Veterinary Science, Onderstepoort.

"The claim with quantum silver is that it's got general antiviral principles and therefore it will be effective against foot-and-mouth disease. This is a conclusion that you can't make at all because there's no clinical evidence whatsoever that is safe to use or that it can be effective against foot-and-mouth disease infection in animals," he said.

Holm said the man in the video did not provide scientific evidence, only anecdotal evidence.

The Quantum.Silver product is only registered as a feed supplement under Act 36, not as a disease treatment.

"This product has been registered with Act 36 as a nutritional supplement, not as a remedy for disease or sickness treatment," Holm said.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals like cattle, sheep and goats.

Infections have been confirmed in eight of nine provinces. Gauteng is the hardest hit with an estimated 261,726 animals affected.

The outbreak in Gauteng is believed to have started in April 2025 in the West Rand Municipality through illegal cattle transportation from KwaZulu-Natal.

Gauteng has allocated R16-million from the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme. More than 286,000 vaccine doses have been administered, with 90,000 more on order.

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