Originally from: lina
                        
Hi Jane,
I don't know where you got this article from, but this
is a bit like re inventing another wheel. They already
have more effective FMD vaccine for all seven strains
of FMD. And they have the diagnostic tests as well.
So why would they need 60 million dollars to invent
something that is already there?
Lina

--- ... wrote:
29 September 2003

FMD future: vaccines or funeral pyres?

Millions of animals could be needlessly slaughtered
and billions of dollars lost from economies, unless
the world backs an international science team to
develop new tools to fight foot-and-mouth disease
(FMD).
A group of world-leading researchers aims to develop
a more effective FMD vaccine and better diagnostic
tests that would enable livestock disease control
agencies to isolate and eventually eliminate the
disease. The team of scientists from the United
Kingdom, Canada, United States, and Australia, are
leading a call for international support for a bold
five-year research project.

“Foot-and-mouth disease is a global problem and it
requires a global solution,” says project leader, Dr
Martyn Jeggo, Director of CSIRO Livestock
Industries’ Australian Animal Health Laboratory
(AAHL). “Most countries probably can’t afford the
burden of funding the necessary research, but the
world cannot afford to sit back and do nothing.
That’s why we shall call on international donors for
support.

“We have the scientific capabilities and commitment
to successfully deliver this project. What is needed
is a commitment by the international community to
fund the work, which we estimate will cost US$60
million. This is a paltry sum compared to the
approximate US$12 billion cost of the 2001 FMD
outbreak in the UK.

With members drawn from AAHL, the UK’s Institute for
Animal Health at Pirbright, the United States’ Plum
Island Animal Disease Center, and Canada’s National
Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, the team features
some of the world’s leading experts in the
development of FMD vaccines and diagnostic tests.

Dr David Paton from the Institute for Animal Health
says currently available FMD vaccines can protect
animals from becoming sick but not from becoming
infected with the virus. In addition they require
several days to confer protection.

“In five years we aim to deliver more effective FMD
vaccines and sophisticated diagnostic tests which
will ensure a longer duration of immunity and that
vaccinated animals are not confused with infected
animals,” Dr Paton says. “Vaccination would then
become a more acceptable option for control of an
outbreak in traditionally disease-free areas, like
Europe. “This would mean that, instead of having to
slaughter millions of animals simply because they
are suspected of being infected, a vaccination
program could be an alternative method of
controlling the spread of the disease.

Dr Paul Kitching of Canada’s National Centre for
Foreign Animal Disease says it is “almost
inevitable” that there will be future outbreaks of
FMD in industrialised countries such as the UK,
Canada, US, Australia or New Zealand. “For a
relatively small investment, the international
community could dramatically improve its capacity to
deal with the scourge of FMD,” he says.

Dr Paton continues, “Ultimately our aim has got to
be better control of FMD in those parts of the world
where the disease remains endemic. The Global
Rinderpest Eradication Programme is a success story
that could be copied in the case of FMD. Total
rinderpest eradication is now in sight. Whilst there
are a number of factors that have been critical to
this success, the availability of diagnostics and a
vaccine able to confer life-long immunity, has been
of crucial importance,” he says.

Dr Tom McKenna of the Plum Island Animal Disease
Centre in the US says field-testing of candidate
vaccines developed by the research team could then
take place in collaboration with countries presently
infected with FMD. This would occur in consultation
with National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS),
including Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, South
Africa, PanAftosa, South America, and Pakchong
Laboratory, Thailand.

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