Scientific Advances sought for Foot and Mouth Disease

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US livestock industry needs to be prepared for FMD
By Sue Roesler
Farm and Ranch Guide
December 17, 2012


Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in livestock is currently in more than 100 countries, so it is not a matter of if it will occur again in the U.S., it is a matter of when it will occur, according to Paul Sundberg, vice president of science and technology at the National Pork Council.

The last outbreak of FMD in the U.S. occurred in 1929, but the next outbreak could occur at any moment and the U.S. must be prepared to act quickly, Sundberg said.

The disease which affects cloven-hoofed animals is "very difficult" to control because there are seven different serotypes and 60 subtypes of the FMD virus, he noted.

"All FMD viruses aren't the same. We can't use a common vaccine," Sunberg said, adding the virus strains are constantly evolving and changing, so the vaccines the industry has developed aren't always effective.

In addition, an FMD vaccine is not in high demand in the U.S. because if there is an outbreak, it is doubtful that enough vaccine could be made and sent out to producers soon enough, Sundberg said.

"Vaccines have a shelf life. They can't be stockpiled," he said.

But an Ames, Iowa company may have the answer to that.

Harrisvaccines, based in Ames, was recently awarded $1.114 million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate to develop an RNA Particle (RP) vaccine to potentially protect the U.S. from FMD, according to a press release from the company. The company's RP platform technology allows the vaccine to be manufactured without handling the infectious FMD virus because only a gene sequence from the virus is needed to prepare the vaccine.

Dr. Kurt Kamrud at Harrisvaccines said their "rapid response technology allows us to produce large amounts of vaccine quickly."