Foot-and-mouth disease Vaccine Group

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) causes a highly contagious disease in cloven-hoofed animals including pigs, sheep and cattle. Its debilitating effects, including mortality in young animals, affect all aspects of productivity, making it one of the most economically important diseases of livestock worldwide. The foremost recommendation of the Royal Society Inquiry following the 2001 outbreak of FMD in the UK was that priority should be given to the development of improved FMD vaccines. We are investigating how well emergency FMD vaccines work to protect animals from disease, how long the protection lasts, and the extent to which vaccination reduces the excretion of virus when vaccinated animals become infected to reduce transmission of the virus to other animals. Colleagues will use our data in mathematical models to design FMD vaccination programmes. Existing vaccines comprise inactivated FMDV particles. We are also investigating the DNA vaccine approach to a new generation of FMD vaccines. These may give longer-lasting immunity, and prevent FMDV establishing persistent infections, as well as approaches in the development of FMD marker vaccines.

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