How to cite this article: Vet. Res. (2009) 40:13
DOI: 10.1051/vetres:2008051

Review

Experimental evaluation of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines for emergency use in ruminants and pigs: a review

Sarah J. Cox and Paul V. Barnett

Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Ash Road, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey, GU24 0NF, United Kingdom

Received 2 June 2008; accepted 27 November 2008; published online 2 December 2008

Abstract - Changes to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) control policies since 2001 mean that emergency vaccination must be considered more readily as a control measure in the future. Since field application of vaccine for emergency use has only rarely been applied, the effectiveness of single dose administration, as a control measure in an outbreak situation, is poorly understood. In this review we consider all the available experimental data from studies utilizing either experimental or readily available, commercially produced vaccines, in order to assess their likely effectiveness as an additional means of controlling FMD transmission and spread in an emergency. Overall it is concluded that such vaccines offer an additional and valuable means of FMD control for both ruminants and pigs. They are able to reduce clinical disease, sub-clinical infection and excretion and onward transmission of virus. However, to be most effective, vaccination should be rapidly applied to give maximum opportunity for immunity to develop. We also identify areas for future research and emphasize the importance of vaccine efficacy studies in providing data for models that can help to predict the efficacy of differing FMD control strategies.

Key words: review / foot-and-mouth disease / emergency vaccine / experimental studies

Corresponding author: Sarah.cox@bbsrc.ac.uk

© INRA, EDP Sciences 2009