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An analysis of foot-and-mouth-disease epidemics in the UK.

There was a major epidemic of the foot-and-mouth-disease virus among cattle herds in the UK in 1967-68 which showed a very rapid early spread, a much slower later spread, and eventually infected 12% of herds in the core epidemic area. A simple discrete-time version of a susceptible-latent-infectious-removed epidemiological model is used to generate a set of estimates of the transmission rate. This parameter has high values over the first few days, then the values are lower and they subsequently decline. The early high values are consistent with the view that unusual meteorological conditions produced exceptionally good conditions for wind-borne spread of the virus over the first few days. The corresponding basic reproduction number, Rzero, is estimated as 38.4. Subsequent low values of the transmission rate correspond to a value of Rzero of 2.0; this is within the range of estimates made from the observed ratio of secondary to primary outbreaks for 25 other epidemics. Prophylactic control measures, such as vaccination, would have to be extremely effective to prevent epidemics with the higher Rzero value.

Animals↗

Susceptibility of llamas (Lama glama) to infection with foot-and-mouth-disease virus.

An experimental trial was conducted to evaluate the ability of foot-and-mouth-disease (FMD) virus (serotypes A79, C3, O1) to infect susceptible llamas exposed either directly to affected livestock, or indirectly to llamas that had been directly exposed to affected livestock. In addition, susceptible livestock species (cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep) were exposed to those llamas that had been both directly and indirectly exposed to the FMD virus to further look at potential transmission possibilities. Of 30 llamas directly exposed to the FMD virus, only three (3/30) showed evidence of infection, and of those, only two (2/30) had mild clinical signs. No FMD virus was isolated from either oesophageal-pharyngeal (OP) fluid or blood samples collected from the infected llamas beyond 14 days post-exposure. There was no evidence of virus transmission between the directly exposed and indirectly exposed llamas or between both groups of llamas and susceptible domestic livestock, as determined by the lack of clinical signs, by virus isolation, and by serology results. These results provide further evidence that llamas are resistant to FMD infection, and that they play a minor role, if any, in transmitting the virus to domestic livestock.

Animals↗

Strategy for producing new foot-and-mouth disease vaccines that display complex epitopes.

Widely used inactivated vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) induce protective immunity, but vaccine production plants and residual virus in the vaccine itself have been implicated in disease outbreaks. The structure of the FMD virion has been determined, and although much of the surface of the viral particle is produced by complex folding of the three surface-exposed capsid proteins (VP1-3), some surface regions representing important linear epitopes can be mimicked by recombinant proteins or synthetic peptides. Vaccine candidates based on these products stimulate immune responses to foot-and-mouth virus (FMDV), but do not always protect livestock from disease. The basis of protective immunity to FMDV has been explored using genetic engineering to produce antigenic chimeras of the virus. Studies with these chimeras have shown that a strong and protective immune response can be generated in livestock to epitopes outside the sequential epitopes incorporated into previous subunit vaccine candidates. Genetic engineering of the virus has also been used to demonstrate that changes within the sequence encoding an arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) sequence in VP1 abrogate virus binding to cells in culture, confirming the role of RGD as the receptor binding site. Based on this information, genetically stable viruses which cannot bind to cells have been created by deleting the nucleotides coding the RGD sequence. The receptor binding site-deleted viruses have been shown to be non-infectious in tissue culture, mice, and swine. Cattle vaccinated with these viruses are protected from disease when challenged with virulent FMDV, demonstrating that they could serve as the basis for safer FMD vaccines.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Descriptive epidemiology of the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in Great Britain: the first five months.

In February 2001, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was confirmed in Great Britain. A major epidemic developed, which peaked around 50 cases a day in late March, declining to under 10 a day by May. By mid-July, 1849 cases had been detected. The main control measures employed were livestock movement restrictions and the rapid slaughter of infected and exposed livestock. The first detected case was in south-east England; infection was traced to a farm in north-east England to which all other cases were linked. The epidemic was large as a result of a combination of events, including a delay in the diagnosis of the index case, the movement of infected sheep to market before FMD was first diagnosed, and the time of year. Virus was introduced at a time when there were many sheep movements around the country and weather conditions supported survival of the virus. The consequence was multiple, effectively primary, introductions of FMD virus into major sheep-keeping areas. Subsequent local spread from these introductions accounted for the majority of cases. The largest local epidemics were in areas with dense sheep populations and livestock dealers who were active during the key period. Most affected farms kept both sheep and cattle. At the time of writing the epidemic was still ongoing; however, this paper provides a basis for scientific discussion of the first five months.

Animals↗

Prevention measures against foot-and-mouth disease in Europe in recent years.

The paper describes the situation of foot-and-mouth disease in Europe over the past 2 years and analyses the origin of the disease during the last decades. Preventive vaccination has been banned in Europe in the early nineties. Since then, despite several incursion of the virus, the disease has always been rapidly contained and eradicated. Therefore the ban on vaccination did not result in an increase of FMD outbreaks. Based on the recent source of introduction of the virus, the author reviews the lines of defence which should be reinforced to reduce the risk of further introduction of the disease.

Animals↗

Occurrence of cross reactions to foot-and-mouth disease virus in normal swine sera.

Sera from 101 swine never exposed to foot-and-mouth disease virus were tested by the plaque-reduction neutralization (PRN) and radial immunodiffusion techniques for cross-reactions to 5 types of foot-and-mouth disease viruses. Depending on the group of sera and the virus used, the percentage of sera cross-reacting at low levels varied from 0 to 50% with the PRN technique and 0 to 20% with the radial immunodiffusion technique. 5erum-neutralization tests in mice support the finding of neutralizing antibody by the PRN technique. Ultracentrifugation and 2-mercaptoethanol studies indicate that the cross-reactions are the result of immunoglobulin M or similar macroglobulins.

Animals↗

Foot-and-mouth disease - quantification and size distribution of airborne particles emitted by healthy and infected pigs.

There is strong evidence to suggest that foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) can be transmitted by airborne virus up to many kilometres from a virus source. Atmospheric dispersion models are often used to predict where this disease might spread. This study investigated whether FMD virus (FMDV) aerosol has specific characteristics which need to be taken into consideration in these models. The characteristics and infectiousness of particles emitted by 12 pigs have been studied pre- and post-infection with O UKG 2001 FMDV. Aerosol generated by individual pigs was found log normally distributed in the range 0.015-20.0microm with concentrations between 1000 and 10000cm(-3) at the smallest size and <1cm(-3) above 10microm. No differences in either the total number of particles produced or their size distribution were detected between uninfected and infected pigs. However, a correlation between aerosol concentration and animal activity was found with a more active pig producing significantly greater concentrations than those that were less active. Viable virus was found up to a maximum of 6.3 log TCID(50)/24h/animal. The virus was distributed almost equally across the three size ranges; <3, 3-6 and >6microm. No correlation could be established between the production of virus and animal activity. In general the production of airborne virus closely followed the detection of viraemia in the blood and the presence of clinical symptoms. However, in one instance a pig excreted as much airborne virus as the other animals in the study, but with less virus detected in its blood. The results suggest that there is little merit in including a sophisticated virus release pattern based on physical activity periods or FMDV aerosol size spectrum, together with the appropriate dry deposition calculations, in models used to predict airborne spread of FMD. An estimate of the total daily virus production based on the clinical assessment of disease and virus strain is sufficient as input.

Air Microbiology↗

The structure of foot-and-mouth disease virus: implications for its physical and biological properties.

The structure of foot-and-mouth disease virus has been solved at a resolution of 2.9 A by X-ray diffraction techniques. The overall structural organisation of the particle is similar to that seen in other picornaviruses but there are several unique features. Many of these help to explain its characteristic physical and biological properties. In particular the canyon or pit found at the surface of other picornaviruses is lacking, which has important implications for cell attachment and the process of infection. Also there are 60 large disordered protrusions at the surface corresponding to the major antigenic site. This disorder is of particular interest in relation to the striking ability of linear synthetic peptides to induce protective immunity against foot-and-mouth disease.

Animals↗

Long distance transport of foot-and-mouth disease virus over the sea.

The conditions required for the transport of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus in the atmosphere over long distances and in sufficient concentrations to cause infection in exposed animals are described. Using these factors a series of 23 outbreaks of FMD in Europe, where the original outbreaks were separated from later outbreaks by sea passage, have been investigated. The findings obtained support the hypothesis that under certain conditions the airborne transmission of FMD over a long sea passage is possible.

Air Microbiology↗

Epitopes on foot-and-mouth disease virus outer capsid protein VP1 involved in neutralization and cell attachment.

Foot-and-mouth disease virus structural protein VP1 elicits neutralizing and protective antibody and is probably the viral attachment protein which interacts with cellular receptor sites on cultured cells. To study the relationships between epitopes on the molecule related to neutralization and cell attachment, we tested monoclonal antibodies prepared against type A12 virus, isolated A12 VP1, and a CNBr-generated A12 VP1 fragment for neutralization and effect on viral absorption. The antibodies selected for analysis neutralized viral infectivity with varying efficiencies. One group of antibodies caused a high degree of viral aggregation and inhibited the adsorption of virus to cells by 50 to 70%. A second group of antibodies caused little or no viral aggregation but inhibited the adsorption of virus to cells by 80 to 90%. One antibody, which is specific for the intact virion, caused little viral aggregation and had no effect on the binding of virus to specific cellular receptor sites. Thus, at least three antigenic areas on the surface of foot-and-mouth disease virus which were involved in neutralization were demonstrated. One of the antigenic sites appears to have been responsible for interaction with the cellular receptor sites on the surface of susceptible cells.

Animals↗