New York City, Moscow, Chicago & pretty much everyone celebrated St. Patty’s Day except the country of origin & Ireland.

Yes, thanks to a little virus called Foot-and-Mouth, currently popular in several parts of the United Kingdom, Dublin was St. Patty-parade-less Saturday. The famous week-long stint of carnivals, carousing and bagpipes was canceled and visitors were left to appreciate the usual TV parade watch on the BBC.

This made Dublin, or “Publin” as I like to call it, more pint-happy than usual.

Dublin is DeKalb’s worst day, every day. Rain, wind, cold & you name it, they’ve got it. Everyone there seems pretty used to it, but U.S. immune systems take flight upon arrival. That is, unless you’re from Seattle.

In Dublin, Foot-and-Mouth has inspired a number of antiseptic door mats that have sprouted all over. Despite the torrents of rain, they are full of antiseptic. Upon walking on these, Foot-and-Mouth magically goes away. Other preventative measures include antiseptic sprays on any semi-trucks or buses that come off the ferries from England.

The U.K. also has been privy to Mad Cow Disease, putting a damper on their beef consumption. While Foot-and-Mouth rarely transfers to humans, more than 94 people have died of Mad Cow, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. The disease can be contracted through infected meat.

The virus, which first surfaced in England, is spread by dust particles. Which means it’s probably over here in some form because when I and 50 others got off the plane, no one asked us to check dust particles at the door. As for me, all mine are in the airplane because of the fantastic cold I picked up in the UK.

Foot-and-Mouth attacks cloven-hooved animals, which include cows, pigs, sheep and the like. The virus works like peer pressure & if one animal in a herd has it, chances are the rest do, too, according to Newsweek. Britain is trying to stop the disease by killing animals off. Some farmers have started to “exterminate at-risk animals and quarantine the others,” a Newsweek article stated.

British BBC broadcasts show family after heartbroken family who have to kill, then burn, all their animals. The families are paid for their losses, but altogether, the British farmers are losing money. The death toll already is at 45,000, totaled since February.

Yes, this disease could happen here. Those arriving in O’Hare who have stayed in a bed and breakfast, at a farm or have been around animals are asked to “present themselves to a U.S. agriculture official” who will then proceed to ask a series of questions and such. More than anything, it’s really up to the travelers. As Lewis Thomas, the state veterinarian from West Virginia, said in the article, “All someone would have to do is go to a farm in England and then go to a farm here. We have hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of livestock, and they would have to be slaughtered. It would be beyond the realm of comprehension.”

Does any of this affect the U.S. now? As for Mad Cow, no infected cows have been identified in the U.S. And the USDA banned the British importation of pork products upon hearing of the Foot-and-Mouth outbreak.

But as for those who frequent farms in England & don’t sneeze on U.S. soil.