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About the Authors:
Carolina Stenfeldt
Affiliations Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Greenport, New York, United States of America, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, PIADC Research Participation Program, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States of America
Juan M. Pacheco
Affiliation: Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Greenport, New York, United States of America
Luis L. Rodriguez
Affiliation: Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Greenport, New York, United States of America
Jonathan Arzt
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Greenport, New York, United States of America
Introduction
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious infection of cloven-hoofed animals, with a renowned ability of rapid transmission amongst susceptible hosts. The causative agent, FMD virus (FMDV), is a non-enveloped positive sense RNA virus belonging to the Aphthovirus genus of the Picornavirus family [1]. Outbreaks of FMD within developed countries that are normally kept free of the disease lead to immediate and severe impact upon agricultural production, with prolonged restrictions on export of animal products. Furthermore, in the large regions of the world in which FMD is endemic, the disease poses a constant threat to the health and welfare of livestock, thereby compromising the livelihood of farmers and causing instability of food supplies [2].
The characteristic clinical manifestations of FMD which include blanching and vesiculation of cornified epithelium within the oral cavity and in areas of non-haired skin, can be seen across a wide range of susceptible host-species, including domestic and wild ruminants and suids [3]–[5]. Despite several common features of the clinical infection, there are certain elements of FMDV pathogenesis that are specific for different host-species. Pigs are often recognized as being more severely affected by the clinical phase of FMD when compared to cattle and sheep [6]. However, in contrast to ruminants, pigs have proven to be more efficient in clearing the infection as there is no convincing evidence of a persistent, sub-clinical “carrier state” of FMDV in suids [5]–[7]. It has also been...