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Purpose The success of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) serological serosurveillance greatly depends on the FMD vaccine which does not include any non-structural proteins (NSPs) of the FMD virus. Since pure FMD vaccines from NSPs are used with the FMD eradication programs using DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) tests. Apart from the in-vivo test defined in the World Organisation for Animal Health, two different test kits were developed in-process NSP detection purposes. The first test kit was developed in 2010 and the second one has been very recently developed in 2019. Materials and methods In this study, the level of NSP has been examined by first-chemiluminescent filtration assisted (FAL)-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based in-vitro, in-process test kit for Turkey FMD vaccine antigen samples. A total of 94 samples were used. The critical maximum acceptable levels of NSP were determined after purification stage of samples. Results As a maximum NSP level, 70 ng NSP for the polyethylene glycol concentrated samples and 30 ng NSP for the vaccine antigen mixture samples were accepted. A mini repeatability study was also performed. The correlation between the NSP, total protein, and 146S particul quantity of samples were analyzed. Conclusion As a conclusion, the chemiluminescent FAL-ELISA based test kit can be used for the NSP purity level determination of in-process samples.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and economically devastating disease affecting cloven-hoofed livestock worldwide. FMD virus (FMDV) type A is one of the most common causes of FMD outbreaks among the seven FMDV serotypes, and its serological diagnosis is therefore important to confirm FMDV type A infection and to determine FMD vaccine efficacy. Here, we generated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific to FMDV type A via hybridoma systems using an inactivated FMDV type A (A22/Iraq/1964) and found 4 monoclones (#29, #106, #108, and #109) with high binding reactivity to FMDV type A among 594 primary clones. In particular, the #106 mAb had a higher binding reactivity to the inactivated FMDV type A than the other mAbs and a commercial mAb. Moreover, the #106 mAb showed no cross-reactivity to inactivated FMDV type South African territories 1, 2, and 3, and low reactivity to inactivated FMDV type O (O1 Manisa). Importantly, the solid-phase competitive ELISA (SPCE) using horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated #106 mAb detected FMDV type A-specific Abs in sera from FMD type A-vaccinated cattle more effectively than a commercial SPCE. These results suggest that the newly developed FMDV type A-specific mAb might be useful for diagnostic approaches for detecting Abs against FMDV type A.

We report the full polyprotein-coding sequences and partial untranslated regions (UTRs) of 18 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) viruses from 4 outbreaks in India in 2013 and 2014. All strains grouped within the O/ME-SA/Ind2001d sublineage. These genomes update knowledge of FMD virus (FMDV) diversity in South Asia and may contribute to molecular epidemiology studies and vaccine selections.

The historical background of FMD vaccine production, the Vallee-Schmidt-Waldmann concept, the production of antigen in bovine tongue epithelium (Frenkel culture) and improvements achieved through the use of monolayer and suspension cultures of cell lines are described. Key elements of modern vaccine production are discussed such as the production environment, bio-safety concepts, rules for good manufacturing practice, requirements for culture medium, cells, virus strains, inactivation of viral antigen, and successive concentration and purification of the antigen. Storage of the concentrated antigen at ultra-low temperatures creates greater flexibility for the producer. In addition, it allows national and international organisations, the opportunity to establish vaccine banks for emergency vaccination. For the latter purpose it is even more important that antigens are purified. The purification of FMD viral antigens – including the removal of nonstructural proteins (NSP) – provides a system that can distinguish between the immune responses of vaccinated animals from those of animals infected with live FMD virus. Consequently, the combined use of purified vaccine and anti-NSP tests essentially provides a “marker” system. Possibilities for the world-wide control and eradication of FMD by vaccination, including the institution of regional vaccine banks, are discussed. Modern (qualified) FMD vaccines perform very well both for regular vaccination programs and for the control of outbreaks, and over the past 15 years there are no well-documented cases where cattle vaccinated with an approved vaccine have caused new outbreaks. Therefore, whether there continues to be justification for sanctions on trade, when controlling single (limited) outbreaks by (ring-) vaccination.

Phylodynamic modelling, which studies the joint dynamics of epidemiological and evolutionary processes, has made significant progress in recent years due to increasingly available genomic data and advances in statistical modelling. These advances have greatly improved our understanding of transmission dynamics of many important pathogens. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of effective, targetted diagnostic tools for systematically detecting model mis-specification. Development of such tools is essential for model criticism, refinement, and calibration. The idea of utilising latent residuals for model assessment has already been exploited in general spatio-temporal epidemiological settings. Specifically, by proposing appropriately designed non-centered, re-parameterizations of a given epidemiological process, one can construct latent residuals with known sampling distributions which can be used to quantify evidence of model mis-specification. In this paper, we extend this idea to formulate a novel model-diagnostic framework for phylodynamic models. Using simulated examples, we show that our framework may effectively detect a particular form of mis-specification in a phylodynamic model, particularly in the event of superspreading. We also exemplify our approach by applying the framework to a dataset describing a local foot-and-mouth (FMD) outbreak in the UK, eliciting strong evidence against the assumption of no within-host-diversity in the outbreak. We further demonstrate that our framework can facilitate model calibration in real-life scenarios, by proposing a within-host-diversity model which appears to offer a better fit to data than one that assumes no within-host-diversity of FMD virus.

Argentina is a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)-free country divided into five zones associated to disparate epidemiological situations and control strategies. Two zones are free from FMD with vaccination and three without vaccination. Quantitative risk assessment was used here to estimate the risk of introduction of FMD virus (FMDV) into the Argentine FMD-free without vaccination zone via legal or illegal trade of bone-in beef and non-vaccinated live animals from the FMD-free zone with vaccination of the country. Because trade of those commodities between those two zones is currently banned in Argentina, the analysis here will help evaluating the impact of relaxing such prohibition in the national regulation and the impact of illegal trade. Results suggest that if the volume of incoming bone-in beef is equal to the volume of deboned beef that enters the non-vaccinating zone, the annual risk of an FMDV introduction to the zone without vaccination will be low (0.0017). Indeed, the risk of introduction per kg trade volume via illegal trade is 6.9 times higher compared to legal trade. Similarly, the annual risk was also low for movement of live sheep and goat (0.0059) and swine (0.007) when the FMDV was assumed to be adapted to bovine and when a serological test was performed prior to movement. The implementation of a serological test to sheep and goat reduces 19 times the risk for FMDV introduction. In conclusion, the risk of introduction of FMDV into the FMD-free zone without vaccination through bone-in beef, sheep, goat, and swine with certain requirements, such as serological testing, is nil. If legal trade was allowed, the incoming risk may even be lower, compared to the current scenario of prohibiting the introduction. Results are likely due to the controls associated to legal trade, and the subsequent reduction of illegal trade. Consequently, results suggest that a policy of incentive and facilitation of good practices may be more effective in preventing FMDV introduction into a free zone than prohibition of trade.

Livestock are critical component for supporting the sustainable agriculture in the current global scenario. In the era of artificial intelligence and automation in field of livestock, sensors play an important role. Electrochemical sensor is the type of sensor which holds reliability and tremendous promise in raising the animal productivity in developing world. An early and accurate diagnosis of the animal pathogen and metabolic status are the cornerstone for better animal productivity. The available diagnostic techniques require tedious sample preparation, sophisticated instrument, dedicated laboratory, trained personnel and it is time consuming also. The electrochemical biosensor technology might be a smart solution because of its sensitivity, simplicity, low cost, possible miniaturization and potential ability for real-time analysis. In the veterinary disease diagnostics, various biosensors including electrochemical biosensors have been developed recently, based on disease specific biomarkers. The main focus of article is on reviewing the research in detection of animal infectious and metabolic diseases, hormonal analysis and sweat analysis with electrochemical biosensor.

Many cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) are reported every year in Benin. In order to elucidate the epidemiology of this disease, a space-time analysis was carried out in all the 77 municipalities of the country aiming to identify high risk areas as well as risk factors such as season and transhumance on the period of 2005 to 2014. Data were collected retrospectively from the Directory of Animal Production of Benin. The method of Kulldorff was used with the software SaTScanTM for the space-time analysis while a script was designed in the software R to generate new sizes with three different models of transhumance. From 2005 to 2014, 434 foci were recorded. Many outbreaks occurred in August, September and October. This period corresponds to the small rainy season in the South and the rainy season of the North. The municipality of Parakou was regarded as the source FMD outbreaks in Benin because it hosts one of the largest livestock markets in the country and many rivers. It was the municipality at the highest risk. The other municipalities at risk were Nikki, Perere and Kalaleas well as Karimama (hosting the national parkW), Kouande and Toucountouna located nearby Pendjari’s national park. This study revealed that the space-time configuration is real and the main factors of persistence and dissemination of FMD virus were national parks, classified forests and the livestock market of Parakou all located in the North. The variation of the number of cattle due to their transhumance from the North to the South did not influence the zones at risk. Therefore, Northern Benin is probably at high risk of FMD.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has a major economic impact throughout the world and is a considerable threat to food security. Current FMD virus (FMDV) vaccines are made from chemically inactivated virus and need to contain intact viral capsids to maximize efficacy. FMDV exists as seven serotypes, each made up by a number of constantly evolving subtypes. A lack of immunological cross-reactivity between serotypes and between some strains within a serotype greatly complicates efforts to control FMD by vaccination. Thus, vaccines for one serotype do not afford protection against the others, and multiple-serotype-specific vaccines are required for effective control. The FMDV serotypes exhibit variation in their thermostability, and the capsids of inactivated preparations of the O, C and SAT serotypes are particularly susceptible to dissociation at elevated temperature. Methods to quantify capsid stability are currently limited, lack sensitivity and cannot accurately reflect differences in thermostability. Thus, new, more sensitive approaches to quantify capsid stability would be of great value for the production of more stable vaccines and to assess the effect of production conditions on vaccine preparations. Here we have investigated the application of a novel methodology (termed PaSTRy) that utilizes an RNA-binding fluorescent dye and a quantitative (q)PCR machine to monitor viral genome release and hence dissociation of the FMDV capsid during a slow incremental increase in temperature. PaSTRy was used to characterize capsid stability of all FMDV serotypes. Furthermore, we have used this approach to identify stabilizing factors for the most labile FMDV serotypes.

We assessed knowledge gaps in foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) research. Findings are reported in a series of papers, and in this article, we consider biotherapeutics and disinfectants. The study took the form of a literature review (2011-2015) combined with research updates collected in 2014 from 33 institutes from across the world. Findings were used to identify priority areas for future FMD research. While vaccines will remain the key immunological intervention used against FMD virus (FMDV) for the foreseeable future, it takes a few days for the immune system to respond to vaccination. In an outbreak situation, protection could potentially be provided during this period by the application of rapid, short-acting biotherapeutics, aiming either to stimulate a non-specific antiviral state in the animal or to specifically inhibit a part of the viral life cycle. Certain antiviral cytokines have been shown to promote rapid protection against FMD; however, the effects of different immune-modulators appear to vary across species in ways and for reasons that are not yet understood. Major barriers to the effective incorporation of biotherapeutics into control strategies are cost, limited understanding of their effect on subsequent immune responses to vaccines and uncertainty about their potential impact if used for disease containment. Recent research has highlighted the importance of environmental contamination in FMDV transmission. Effective disinfectants for FMDV have long been available, but research is being conducted to further develop methods for quantitatively evaluating their performance under field, or near-field, conditions. During outbreaks in South Korea in 2010 there was public concern about potential environmental contamination after the mass use of disinfectant and mass burial of culled stock; this should be considered during outbreak contingency planning.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) models-analytical models for tracking and analyzing FMD outbreaks-are known as dominant tools for examining the spread of the disease under various conditions and assessing the effectiveness of countermeasures. There has been some remarkable progress in modeling research since the UK epidemic in 2001. Several modeling methods have been introduced, developed, and are still growing. However, in 2010 when a FMD outbreak occurred in the Miyazaki prefecture, a crucial problem reported: Once a regional FMD outbreak occurs, municipal officials in the region must make various day-to-day decisions throughout this period of vulnerability. The deliverables of FMD modeling research in its current state appear insufficient to support the daily judgments required in such cases. FMD model can be an efficient support tool for prevention decisions. It requires being conversant with modeling and its preconditions. Therefore, most municipal officials with no knowledge or experience found full use of the model difficult. Given this limitation, the authors consider methods and systems to support users of FMD models who must make real-time epidemic-related judgments in the infected areas. We propose a virtual sensor, designated "FMD-VS," to index FMD virus scattering in conditions where there is once a notion of FMD; and (2) shows how we apply the developed FMD-VS technique during an outbreak. In (1), we show our approach to constructing FMD-VS based on the existing FMD model and offer an analysis and evaluation method to assess its performance. We again present the results produced when the technique applied to 2010 infection data from the Miyazaki Prefecture. For (2), we outline the concept of a method that supports the prevention judgment of municipal officials and show how to use FMD-VS.

Dried casein produced from pasteurized milk of dairy cows infected with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus retained infectivity for cattle in one of seven tests for 42 days of storage at 25 C. Thus, infections FMD virus can persist after pasteurization of the milk at 72 C for 15 sec., acid precipitation and washing of casein, followed by drying of the casein in a hot air flow and conversion to sodium caseinate.

The pattern of interactions between foot and mouth disease (FMD) viral protein 1 (VP1) with susceptible and resistant host integrins were deciphered. The putative effect of site-directed mutation on alteration of interaction is illustrated using predicted and validated 3D structures of VP1, mutated VP1 and integrins of

A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) seroprevalence and identify risk factors of exposure among cattle herds raised in three zones with different types of land use and progressively distant from the Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) boundary. We selected five villages purposively; two in zone 1 (area20 km from the MMNR), another two in zone 2 (area between 20-40 km away from the MMNR) and one in zone 3 (area40 km away from the MMNR). A total of 1170 cattle sera were collected from 390 herds in all the zones and tested for antibodies against the non-structural proteins (NSPs) of FMD virus (FMDV) using two 3ABC-based Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ELISA kits. All sera samples were also screened for serotype-specific antibodies using Solid Phase Competitive ELISA (SPCE) kits (IZSLER, Italy). We targeted FMDV serotypes A, O, South African Territory [SAT] 1 and SAT 2, known to be endemic in East Africa including Kenya. Data on putative risk factors for FMD seropositivity in cattle were collected using a questionnaire. The overall apparent animal-level FMD seroprevalence based on the parallel comparison of the two anti-NSPs ELISA kits was 83.8 % (95 % CI; 81.8-85.9), and differed significantly across zones. Zone 1 had a higher seroprevalence than zones 2 and 3 (χ

Infectious diseases and parasitic infestations can cause a set of non-specific clinical signs, such as increased body temperature and resting, and a decrease in food intake. These physiological and behavioural changes have an adaptive function facilitating defences against the pathogen and to support immune functions. These so-called' sickness behaviours' can also be used as an early detection tool for disease. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) still causes great economic losses in endemic countries, especially to smallholder farmers. The aim of this study was to determine if behavioural changes in goats can be used as an early indicator of FMD virus (FMDV) infection. The efficacy of a Southern African Territories (SAT) FMD vaccine was studied on forty South African indigenous goats. Changes in daily activities (resting, feeding, walking), as well as social behaviours (social resting, social feeding, dominance behaviours) were recorded and then compared over time and between clinically affected and unaffected goats. Pedometers were used to estimate average daily steps and to compare between groups of study animals. Eleven goats developed clinical signs of FMD, as well as non-FMD related sicknesses during the course of the study. Overall walking and resting behaviours were not significantly affected by the presence of FMD related clinical signs (p > 0.05). However, during the time of FMDV infection, social resting increased significantly (p < 0.001). Although goats developed FMD lesions on lips and tongues, percentage of time feeding was not affected (p = 0.762), suggesting that the study goats did not perceive the oral lesions as an important disturbance. Similarly, the number of steps did not consistently decrease in the presence of FMD-associated foot lesions. When affected by non-FMD related sicknesses, animals did not have an overall reduction in the time spent feeding (p = 0.867). However, goats affected with non-FMD conditions reduced the amount of social feeding (p = 0.002), potentially avoiding energetically costly competition at the feeding points. Overall, goats affected with FMD did not show more sickness behaviour, suggesting that FMDV infection in goats might not lead to obvious and therefore, easily detectable behavioural changes. This might have implications for farmers and animal health personnel, as individual goats infected with FMDV might be undetected within a flock due to the absence of obvious sickness behaviours, and the virus can therefore be spread more easily between herds through animal movements.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the major trans-boundary animal diseases in East Africa causing economic loss to farmers and other stakeholders in the livestock industry. Foot-and-mouth disease occurs widely in both Uganda and Tanzania with annual outbreaks recorded. With the recent introduction of the Progressive Control Pathway for FMD control (PCP-FMD) in eastern Africa, knowledge of the spatial and temporal distribution of FMD at the border area between Uganda and Tanzania is helpful in framing engagement with the initial stages of the PCP. Retrospective data collected between 2011 and 2016 from four districts located along the border areas of Uganda and Tanzania, recorded 23 and 59 FMD outbreaks, respectively, for the entire study period. Analysis showed that 46% of the 82 recorded outbreaks occurred in 20% of sub-counties and wards immediately neighbouring the Uganda–Tanzania border and 69.5% of the outbreaks occurred during the dry months. While the serotypes of the FMD virus responsible for most outbreaks reported in this region were not known, previous research reported South African Territory (SAT) 1, SAT 2 and O to be the serotypes in circulation. The results from this study provide evidence of the endemic status of FMD on the Uganda–Tanzania border and emphasise that the border area should be given due consideration during FMD control drives and that cross-border coordination should be prioritised. With the limited data on circulating serotypes in this area, there is a need for more vigilance on FMD case detection, laboratory diagnostic confirmation and provision of more complete documentation of outbreaks. This work further recommends more studies on cross-border livestock movement coupled with phylogenetics in order to understand the spread of the FMD in the border area.

Highlights • The recent A-Iran-05 viruses circulating in the Middle East do not match with the existing vaccines. • Full capsid sequence of 13 SIS-10 and SIS-12 viruses was generated. • The r1-values generated using antisera raised against two existing vaccines and a new vaccine. • Amino acid changes in neutralizing antigenic sites 1, 2 and 4 were observed., A new immunologically distinct strain (A-Iran-05) of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype A emerged in the Middle East in 2003 that replaced the previously circulating strains (A-Iran-96 and A-Iran-99) in the region. This resulted in introduction of a new vaccine of this strain (A/TUR/2006) in 2006. Though this vaccine strain has been predominantly used to control FMD in the region, recent viruses isolated in 2012 and 2013 have shown antigenic drift and a poor match with it. In this study, we report the antigenic matching results and capsid sequence data of currently circulating viruses belonging to the SIS-10 and SIS-12 sub-lineages of A-Iran-05 (isolated in 2012 and 2013), highlighting the inadequacy of the currently used serotype A vaccines. Implications of these results in the context of FMD control in the Middle East are discussed.

SummaryAccurate, timely diagnosis is essential for the control, monitoring and eradicationof foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Clinical samples from suspect cases are nor-mally tested at reference laboratories. However, transport of samples to these cen-tralized facilities can be a lengthy process that can impose delays on criticaldecision making. These concerns have motivated work to evaluate simple-to-usetechnologies, including molecular-based diagnostic platforms, that can bedeployed closer to suspect cases of FMD. In this context, FMD virus (FMDV)-specific reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)and real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) assays, compatible with simple sample prepa-ration methods and in situ visualization, have been developed which share equiva-lent analytical sensitivity with laboratory-based rRT-PCR. However, the lack ofrobust ‘ready-to-use kits’ that utilize stabilized reagents limits the deployment ofthese tests into field settings. To address this gap, this study describes the perfor-mance of lyophilized rRT-PCR and RT-LAMP assays to detect FMDV. Both ofthese assays are compatible with the use of fluorescence to monitor amplificationin real-time, and for the RT-LAMP assays end point detection could also beachieved using molecular lateral flow devices. Lyophilization of reagents did notadversely affect the performance of the assays. Importantly, when these assayswere deployed into challenging laboratory and field settings within East Africathey proved to be reliable in their ability to detect FMDV in a range of clinicalsamples from acutely infected as well as convalescent cattle. These data supportthe use of highly sensitive molecular assays into field settings for simple and rapiddetection of FMDV.IntroductionFoot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly infectiousvesicular disease affecting both domesticated and wildcloven-hooved animals. Caused by FMD virus (FMDV),FMD affects over 100 countries worldwide, with diseasedistribution roughly reflecting economic development(Jamal and Belsham, 2013). Although the case-fatality rateof FMD is generally below 5%, the disease can beeconomically devastating: the annual global impact of FMD

A spatial and temporal Monte-Carlo simulation model was developed to analyse the epidemiology and control of foot and mouth disease (FMD). Animal, people and vehicle contacts as well as airborne and local spread represented the FMD virus transmission between farms housing cattle, pigs or sheep. Contacts were explicitly modelled by routes, airborne transmission by the Gaussian Dispersion model and local spread by distance dependent transmission probabilities. Control measures were implemented according to the EU Directive (2003/85/EG). A sensitivity analysis with a two-level fractional factorial design was used to examine the robustness of the simulation model to extreme input values. The influence of eleven input parameters and interactions between them were estimated: ability of airborne spread, duration of the incubation period, time from infection until infectivity, time from onset of clinical signs until diagnosis, farm density, type of index case, number of farms visited per route, visiting interval, type of the animal sales, control strategy, and delay until start of control strategies. The considered parameters as well as certain two-factor interactions between them showed a significant impact on the epidemic duration and the number of infected and culled farms. Particularly, the parameter airborne spread, farm density, number of farms visited per route and control strategy influenced the course of the epidemic. The consideration of airborne spread as well as the implementation of contacts between farms with routes allowed a detailed analysis of these transmission paths.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is highly infectious, but despite the large quantities of FMD virus released into the environment and the extreme susceptibility of host species to infection, transmission is not always predictable. Whereas virus spread in endemic settings is characterised by frequent direct and indirect animal contacts, incursions into FMD-free countries may be seeded by low-probability events such as fomite or wind-borne aerosol routes. There remains a void between data generated from small-scale experimental studies and our ability to reliably reconstruct transmission routes at different scales between farms, countries and regions. This review outlines recent transmission studies in susceptible host species, and considers new approaches that integrate virus genomics and epidemiological data to recreate and understand the spread of FMD.

Sporadic outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) have occurred in Libya for almost fifty years. During the spring of 2013, a countrywide serosurvey was undertaken to assess the level of FMD virus circulation and identify FMD virus serotypes in the country. A total of 4221 sera were collected, comprising samples from large ruminants (LR; n=1428 samples from 357 farms) and small ruminants (SR; n=2793 samples from 141 farms). FMD sero-prevalence of NSP antibodies determined by ELISA were 19.0% (271/1428) with 95% CI (16.9 – 21.0) and 13.5% (378/2793) with 95% CI (12.3 – 14.8) for LR and SR samples, respectively. The sero-prevalence of NSP antibodies in LR was 12.3% and 19.8% for age group < 1 year and ≥ 1 year, respectively (X2= 4.95, P= 0.026), while in SR was 3.7%, 13.6% and 21.3% for age group < 1 year, 1-2 year and > 2 year, respectively (X2= 118.1, P= 0.000). These observed NSP serologic profiles support the hypothesis of an endemic level of FMD circulation in Libya. All positive sera were tested for SP antibodies for O, A and SAT-2 FMD virus serotypes. Serotype O was the dominant circulating serotype followed by serotype A, while evidence of SAT-2 was not found. These data provide an insight into the wider epidemiology of FMD in Libya, and contribute to field and laboratory investigations that during 2013 serotype O (O/ME-SA/Ind-2001 lineage) was isolated from clinical samples collected from the country.Keywords: Foot-and-mouth disease, Large ruminants, Libya, Sero-prevalence, Small ruminants.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease in cloven-hoofed animals, and had been broken out worldwide several times in recent years. In order to extinct outbreak of FMD, a large number of infected animals are slaughtered in some countries, and the slaughterings had been caused a series of environmental pollutions seriously. To reduce this kind of pollution, vaccination is an effective measure to protect animals against FMD, however, FMD virus (FMDV) escaping from manufacturing plant and inactivated incompletely during vaccine production could cause an outbreak of FMD. Therefore, inactivated FMDV vaccines are not safe to animals and environment. FMDV empty capsid (lacking nucleic acid) can elicit the same antibody response as infectious FMDV, thus, empty capsid virus particle vaccine of FMDV would be the most promising candidate vaccine for its safety and protection against FMDV. In this report, we studied the empty capsid virus particle vaccine of FMDV to control FMD and its potential benefits to the environment.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in three districts of Kellem Wollega Zone of Oromia Regional State, West Ethiopia between November, 2011 to March, 2012 with the objectives of determining the seroprevalence of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in cattle and assessing the potential risk factors associated with the disease. Antibodies against non-structural protein of FMD virus using 3ABC ELISA was measured as an indicator of exposure to the virus. From the total 384 sera tested, the overall seroprevalence of FMD in Kellem Wollega Zone was found to be 21.4% (95% CI: 17.23 - 25.47). The highest seroprevalence was observed at Sayo 31.53% (9%%CI: 22.82 to 40.24) followed by Lalo Kile district 19.01% (12.51 - 25.51) and Dale Sadi district 15.26% (9.06 - 21.46). The seroprevalence of FMD in different age groups was 24.22% (95% CI: 18.62, 29.83), 16.51% (95% CI: 9.48, 23.53) and 18.75% (95% CI: 7.55, 29.94) in group of cattle aged greater than 4 years, between 2 to 4 years and less than 2 years, respectively. Higher seroprevalence observed in female 27.17% (95%CI: 20.89 - 33.45) than male 15.34% (10.17, 20.51). Seropositivity was significantly varied with sex and district of cattle (P < 0.05). The odds of being seropositive for female cattle was observed to be 2.05 times of the male cattle (OR; 2.05, 95% CI: 1.22 - 3.43) and Cattle from Sayo district had significantly higher seroprevalence than dale sadi cattle (OR; 2.58, 95% CI: 1.37 - 4.87). In conclusion, the result of this study showed that FMD is an important cattle disease in the study area necessitating further investigation and characterization of the circulating virus serotype to apply effective control and prevention measures. Key words: Seroprevalence, foot and mouth disease (FMD), Kellem Wollega, 3ABC ELISA.

In high-density farming practices, it is important to constantly monitor for infectious diseases, especially diseases that have the potential to spread rapidly between holdings. Pigs are known to amplify foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) by excreting large amounts of virus, and it is therefore important to detect the virus quickly and accurately to minimize the spread of disease. Ropes were used to collect oral fluid samples from pigs, and each sample was compared to saliva samples collected from individual animals by detecting FMD virus RNA using real-time PCR. Two different experiments are described where groups of pigs were infected with different serotypes of FMD virus, either with or without vaccination, and unvaccinated pigs were kept in aerosol contact. The sensitivity of the rope sampling varied between 0.67 and 0.92, and the statistical agreement between this method and individual sampling ranged from substantial to moderate for the two different serotypes. The ease of collecting oral fluids using ropes together with the high sensitivity of subsequent FMD detection through PCR indicates that this could be a useful method to monitor pig populations for FMD virus infection. With further validation of the sensitivity of detection of FMD virus RNA, this can be a cost-effective, non-invasive diagnostic tool.

From three commercial Friesian-Holstein dairy herds located in three different provinces of Egypt at El-Fayoum, EL-Ismailia, and EL-Beheira; a total of 183 paired serum and milk samples were collected on the same occasion and 23 Bulk Tank Milk (BTM) samples were collected for about a year. Samples were tested and evaluated to monitor the immune status of vaccinated cattle against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) virus (strain O1/93/ Aga / Egypt). All samples were subjected to Indirect Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test and Serum neutralization test (SNT) for the detection of specific antibodies. Although Milk is easier and more acceptable than blood sampling for surveys in many situations, results have revealed a significant correlation (r>6, P

Objectives This study aims to develop a method for calculating infection time lines for disease outbreaks on farms was developed using the 2010/2011 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic in the Republic of Korea. Methods Data on farm demography, the detection date of FMD, the clinical history for the manifestation of lesions, the presence of antibodies against FMD virus (including antibodies against the structural and nonstructural proteins of serotype O), vaccination status (O1 Manisa strain), the number of reactors and information on the slaughter of infected animals were utilized in this method. Results Based on estimates of the most likely infection date, a cumulative detection probability that an infected farm would be identified on a specific day was determined. Peak infection was observed between late December and early January, but peak detection occurred in mid-January. The early detection probability was highest for pigs, followed by cattle (dairy, then beef) and small ruminants. Nearly 90% of the infected pig farms were detected by Day 11 post-infection while 13 days were required for detection for both dairy and beef cattle farms, and 21 days were necessary for small ruminant (goat and deer) farms. On average, 8.1 ± 3.1 days passed prior to detecting the presence of FMD virus on a farm. The interval between infection and detection of FMD was inversely associated with the intensity of farming. Conclusion The results of our study emphasize the importance of intensive clinical inspection, which is the quickest method of detecting FMD infection and minimizing the damage caused by an epidemic.

New outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) occurred in cattle herds in Nigeria during 2007-2009. The objectives of the study reported here were: (i) to identify current FMD virus strains circulating in cattle herds and (ii) to identify exposure factors associated with a seropositive diagnosis of FMD in cattle herds. This study provides evidence that FMD virus serotypes O, A and SAT-2 were co-circulating in cattle herds in Nigeria during 2007-2009. Cattle herds in a neighborhood affected with FMD had higher odds of being classified as seropositive to FMD, compared to herds that were in a neighborhood not affected with FMD (OR=16.27; 95% CI=3.61, 18.74; P0.01). Cattle herds that share water points along the trek routes with other cattle herds had higher odds of being classified as seropositive to FMD (adjusted OR=4.15; 95% CI=0.92, 18.74; P0.06). Results from this study can be used by veterinary services in Nigeria and neighboring countries to evaluate current or future FMD control and eradication programs.

Membranes are finding wide spread applications in disinfection processes for raw water and municipal effluent reuse. This article describes a fundamental study for transmission of mixtures of real viruses through 0.22 μm hydrophobic microfiltration (MF) membrane. Two non-human animal viruses Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and Infectious Bovine Respiratory (IBR) in dilute solution were selected as viruses and challenged with the membrane. An attempt was made to address the main questions for process performance in terms of transmission (or rejection) of virus and flux, under various operating conditions, including transmembrane pressure, stirring and time. The effect of the presence of large virus (IBR, 150 nm) on rejection of small virus (FMD, 25 nm) was elucidated. It was found that IBR virus was completely rejected by the membrane regardless of the operating conditions. The small FMD virus was significantly removed depending on the conditions being higher for lower transmembrane pressure. The pre...

Information about seroprevalence of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and virus serotypes in Eritrea is unavailable, but is very important as it may guide the choice of intervention measures including vaccination to be implemented. We carried out a cross-sectional study from February to June 2011 in Eritrea with a two-stage cluster design, sampling cattle in 155 villages with the objective of determining the seroprevalence of FMD in four administrative regions of the country. We analysed cattle sera (n = 2429) for FMD virus antibodies using the non-structural ELISA (NS ELISA) and virus neutralization test (VNT). The overall seroprevalence was 26% and 30% for the NS ELISA and VNT, respectively. FMD virus serotypes O (14%) and A (11%) were the most prevalent. Gash Barka showed the highest (39%) seroprevalence both in NS ELISA and VNT compared to the other three administrative regions. Strategic FMD virus vaccination with type O and A (matching circulating strains) in combination of zoo-sanitary measures would be the best control option for Eritrea which could be started in areas where the disease is less endemic.

Introduction: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is supposed to be an imperative disease of domestic and wild ruminants which is a vast reason of high mortality in young animals and production losses in adults. The supreme prevailing stains of FMD in Asia are “O”, “A “and “Asia-I”, which are supposed to be a big threat to economy and commonly not properly diagnosed. For appropriate diagnoses, hyper-immune serum is required. Methods: A study was conducted to produce hyper-immune serum in rabbits which were divided into three groups including Group-I, Group-II and a control group. Results: First two groups were weekly inoculated with FMD virus Serotype “O” for six weeks and confirmation of the infection was done with the help of compliment fixation test (CFT), while antibody titer was measured by using ager gel precipitation test (AGPT). Group-II consisting of female rabbits showed earlier and higher titer (Log27) than group-I (Male rabbits) having lower titer (Log25). Conclusion: The study recommended the use of females rabbits to raise hyper-immune serum to attain higher titer.

Quality control (QC) procedures for antigen detection enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for hog cholera (HC) virus, foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus, and an antibody detection ELISA for FMD virus were established at a regional veterinary laboratory in northern Thailand. A recently developed computer software package, QCEL, was used to facilitate management and analysis of QC data. The program was used to assess test performance by producing Shewhart-CUSUM control charts which monitored control data for unacceptable fluctuations or trends. QCEL-generated control charts and analyses are presented and discussed. The use of a simple integrated computerised system for storage and analysis of QC control data provided the laboratory with the opportunity to achieve increased confidence in the results of tests performed.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) remains subclinical and self-limiting in small ruminants, but risk of spread of infection to susceptible cohorts is of great epidemiological significance; therefore, small ruminants must be included in vaccination campaigns in FMD endemic regions. Three groups of goats already immunized against peste des petits ruminants (PPR) were vaccinated with FMD and PPR vaccines alone or concurrently. The specific antibody response against three FMD virus strains and PPR virus were evaluated by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). Goats concurrently vaccinated with PPR + FMD vaccines had significantly (p

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) remains the most important animal disease. The FMD virus is highly contagious and occurs almost exclusively among cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, Bactrian camels and swine. Old World camels (OWCs) and New World camels (NWCs) inhabit FMD-endemic countries in South America, North and East Africa, and the Middle and Far East. Results of experimental infection of OWCs with the virus, and several clinical observations from the field over a century, confirm that the two closely related camel species of Bactrian and dromedary camels possess noticeably different susceptibilities to FMD. It is now certain that Bactrian camels can contract the disease. In contrast, dromedaries are not susceptible to FMD and do not transmit infection, even when in close contact with susceptible animals. The susceptibility of NWCs to the FMD virus has been demonstrated in the field and in experimental infection trials. However, these animals are not very susceptible and do not represent a serious risk in transmitting FMD to susceptible animal species.

We have developed a replication-defective human adenovirus (Ad5) vectored foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine platform that protects both swine and cattle from subsequent challenge with homologous virus after a single immunization. This Ad5-FMD vaccine has undergone testing following the requirements of the Center for Veterinary Biologics of the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service, US Department of Agriculture, and has recently been granted a conditional license for inclusion of the vaccine in the US National Veterinary Vaccine Stockpile. In this review, we will describe the approaches we have taken to improve the potency and efficacy of this vaccine platform. Furthermore, we will discuss the development of Ad5 vector-based biotherapeutics to generate rapid protection against FMD virus prior to vaccine-induced adaptive immunity and describe the use of a combination of these approaches to stimulate both fast and long-lasting immunity.

Seventy four (74) samples from cattle, buffalo, goat and sheep were tested to isolatethe FMD virus, 23 isolates of the virus showed Cytopathic Effect (CPE) on the different typesof cell culture. The CPE appears after 24 hours on fetal lamb kidney (FLK) cells, 48 hours on the fetalbovine kidney (FBK), 30 hours on primary Fetal Bovine Thyroid cell (BTY) and 20 hours onthe primary fetal ovine thyroid cells (OTY). Solid phase ELISA test showed three serotypesof FMD virus O, A and Asia1. One step real time RT-PCR for the diagnosis of FMDV byusing 5UTR FMDV primers and taqman probe (SA-IR-219-246F, SA-IR-315-293R andSAmulti2-P-IR-292-269R). Samples were tested, showed 23 positive machines by using theApplied Biosystem Fast 7500 real time PCR.

In India, the proportion of bovines vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is increasing since the implementation of the Government supported ‘FMD Control Programme’, and non-structural protein (NSP)-based serological assays for discriminating between antibodies induced by infection or vaccination (DIVA) could be useful. The FMD virus NSP 3AB was expressed in a prokaryotic system and an indirect ELISA (r3AB3 I-ELISA) was developed and validated as a screening assay for detecting virus in vaccinated bovines. The diagnostic sensitivity of the assay was estimated to be 96%, while the diagnostic specificity varied between the naive and vaccinates as 99.1% and 96.4%, respectively. This assay could detect antibodies to 3AB (3AB-Ab) from 10 to as late as 900 days post-infection in cattle infected experimentally. The “in-house” assay demonstrated higher sensitivity than a commercial 3ABC ELISA kit particularly with samples obtained from the late stages of infection. Transient post-vaccinal 3AB-Ab response could be detected in one of the three commercial vaccines during the six-month vaccination regimen, which emphasizes the fact that for a DIVA-compatible diagnostic strategy to be a realistic option, all vaccines need to be quality checked for the NSP content.

The United States has been free of FMD since the 1920s. Faced with an incursion of FMD virus that might involve wildlife species, it is crucial that appropriate mitigation strategies be applied rapidly to control the disease. Disease spread models can be used to evaluate the design of optimal strategies. Using a previously developed susceptible-infected-recovered geographic automata model (Sirca) to simulate the spread of FMD through white-tailed deer populations in south Texas, we conducted a series of experiments to determine how pre-emptive mitigation strategies applied to white-tailed deer populations might impact the predicted magnitude and distribution of outbreaks following FMD virus incursion. Based on previously derived deer distributions in the two ecoregions found within the study area, simulated outbreaks were evaluated by comparing the median number of deer predicted to be infected and the median area predicted affected for a baseline scenario and 3 mitigation strategies: targeted cull, random cull and targeted depopulation buffer. Substantial differences were observed in the predicted magnitude of outbreaks both by mitigation strategy and by ecoregion: depending on the ecoregion, the creation of a targeted depopulation buffer could reduce the number of deer predicted infected by up to 52%, and the area affected by up to 31%. Results suggest that the outcome of an FMD incursion that involves wildlife species, such as white-tailed deer in south Texas, might depend on both where the incursion occurs and the type of pre-emptive mitigation strategy applied.

Virus diversity indicates a virus reservoir in this country., Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. To further understand its complex epidemiology, which involves multiple virus serotypes and host species, we characterized the viruses recovered from FMD outbreaks in Ethiopia during 1981–2007. We detected 5 of the 7 FMDV serotypes (O, A, C, Southern African Territories [SAT] 1, and SAT 2). Serotype O predominated, followed by serotype A; type C was not recognized after 1983. Phylogenetic analysis of virus protein 1 sequences indicated emergence of a new topotype within serotype O, East Africa 4. In 2007, serotype SAT 1 was detected in Ethiopia and formed a new distinct topotype (IX), and serotype SAT 2 reappeared after an apparent gap of 16 years. The diversity of viruses highlights the role of this region as a reservoir for FMD virus, and their continuing emergence in Ethiopia will greatly affect spread and consequent control strategy of the disease on this continent.

An examination of the seroprevalence of foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus was conducted in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) from 1996 to 2005, using structured surveillance and abattoir-based studies. Under structured surveillance, seropositivity ranged from 65.7% (Vientiane Capital, 1996) to 3% (Houaphan, 2005) for cattle and buffalo; and from 2.8% (Vientiane Capital, 1998) to 0% in separate studies of pigs. In each study, species composition was significantly associated with seroprevalence rates. For abattoir surveys, the majority of samples (60.5%) came from Vientiane Capital (33.0%), Savannakhet (14.0%) and Champasak (13.5%) provinces. The overall proportion of animals testing positive for the presence of antibodies against the FMD virus was 18.7% (ranging from 50.8% in Vientiane Province to 1% in Phongsali). Generally, antibodies against serotype O were the most prevalent. Cattle and buffalo that tested as seropositive were significantly older than the seronegative animals (p < 0.00005). The overall proportional seropositivity was significantly different for different species, as was the case with the antibodies against serotypes O, A and Asia 1. Some 22% of cattle, 55% of buffalo and 23% of pigs demonstrated seropositivity but this varied significantly between provinces.

La fiebre aftosa (FA) ha sido considerada durante muchos años como la enfermedad animal más importante debido a sus consecuencias sanitarias y económicas. Actualmente la enfermedad es endémica en varios países, especialmente de África y Asia. Por el contrario, Europa es una zona libre, si bien se siguen produciendo epidemias de forma esporádica. Europa erradicó la fiebre aftosa por medio de campañas de vacunación profiláctica que finalizaron en 1991. A partir de esa fecha la prevención de epidemias se basa en el control de las importaciones de animales y sus productos. Si bien las medidas establecidas han conseguido en general mantener fuera de Europa el virus de fiebre aftosa, varios países se vieron afectados por epidemias de esta enfermedad entre 1991 y 2005. En este trabajo se revisan las epidemias más importantes agrupadas por el origen del brote: introducción de productos contaminados o de animales infectados. A pesar de las estrictas medidas de control establecidas en Europa, el riesgo de introducción del virus de la FA en Europa no es despreciable, como lo demuestran las distintas epidemias ocurridas en los últimos años.