foot & mouth vaccine

[ValueChainFX]

I have heard rumblings of a vaccine available for foot & mouth. -- why are we are sitting around waiting for it to get here????? anyone know anything about the vaccine? if it really isn't available as yet should our researches be working on it day and night>>>> I don't want to sit around and wait for it to get here!!!!

[smcgrath76]

There is in fact a vaccine available.
There are however a few problems with using it. Hopefully my explanation is not too confusing.
There are 7 different types of Foot and Mouth disease (subtypes of the disease). They are A, O, C, Asia 1 and SAT 1, 2 and 3. The vaccine is only effective against one of the subtypes.
If we vaccinate for FMD then animals will show up positive when tested (they will produce antibodies due to the vaccine). For a country importing meat or live animals it becomes impossible to tell if an animal is positive because it was vaccinated or because it is carrying the disease. Therefore the borders would close to our exports. To further complicate the issue, if we were to get one of the other strains, it would be impossible to identify the infected animals as infected and vaccinated animals would all test positive.
The vaccine is in effect a double edged sword. As well, all FMD vaccines are killed virus and are effective for 4-6 months at the most.

[smcgrath76]

Many thanks for your response. Lots of info that I wasn't aware of. Looks like we haven't many options. My heart goes out to all the cattle producers dealing with FMD and the turmoil it must be causing in their lives.