The risk of importing foot and mouth disease, a highly contagious viral disease of livestock, severely restricts trade and investment opportunities in many developing countries where the virus is present. This study was designed to investigate the inactivation of foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) by heat treatments used in extruded commercial pet food manufacture. If extrusion could be shown ...

To identify tickborne viruses circulating in Kenya and the surrounding region, we conducted surveillance at abattoirs in Nairobi, Kenya. Species of ticks collected included Rhipicephalus pulchellus (56%), Amblyomma gemma (14%), R. appendiculatus (8%), A. variegatum (6%), and others. A total of 56 virus isolates were obtained, 26 from A. gemma, 17 from R. pulchellus, 6 from A. variegatum, and 7 ...

The role of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) carrier cattle in causing new outbreaks is still a matter of debate and it is important to find out these carrier animals by post-outbreak serosurveillance to declare freedom from FMDV infection. In this study we explore the differences in viral shedding between carrier and non-carrier animals, quantify the transmission rate of FMDV infection from...

In the present article we examine clonality in virus evolution. Most viruses retain an active recombination machinery as a potential means to initiate new levels of genetic exploration that go beyond those attainable solely by point mutations. However, despite abundant recombination that may be linked to molecular events essential for genome replication, herein we provide evidence that generati...

Previously, we finely mapped the neutralizing epitopes recognized by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) type Asia1-specific mAb 3E11 and FMDV type O-specific mAb 8E8. In this study, we engineered recombinant FMDVs of the serotype Asia1 (rFMDVs) displaying the type O-neutralizing epitope recognized by the mAb 8E8. These epitope-inserted viruses were genetically stable and exhibited growth prope...

This paper investigates the early viral dynamics of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) within infected pigs. Using an existing within-host model, we investigate whether individual variation can be explained by the effect of the initial dose of FMD virus. To do this, we consider the experimental data on the concentration of FMD virus genomes in the blood (viral load). In this experiment, 12 pigs were ...

A temperature-sensitive (ts) mutation was identified within the 5'-untranslated region of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) RNA. The mutation destabilizes a stem-loop structure recently identified as a cis-acting replication element (cre). Genetic analyses indicated that the ts defect in virus replication could be complemented. Thus, the FMDV cre can function in trans. It is suggested that th...

Evidence for a mechanism of initiation of viral persistence in which the cell, and not the virus, plays a critical role has been obtained using the important animal pathogen foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). We have developed a virulence assay consisting of quantification of the ability of virus to kill cells and of cells to divide in the presence of virus and to initiate a carrier state. Ce...

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a very dangerous livestock disease which causes a serious loss in the production of milk and meat. Therefore, producing an effective recombinant subunit vaccine virus this disease is of great importance. Transient gene expression is a valuable tool to reach rapid and acceptable recombinant vaccine. An Agrobacterium-mediated transient gene expression assay was car...

Primary bovine thyroid cell cultures and IB-RS-2 continuous cell line were used for foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) isolation. In both cell culture systems, all tested samples gave positive results and the specificity of isolated virus was confirmed by the Ag-ELISA. Results of virus isolation test agreed with those obtained by RT-PCR and rRT-PCR, which enabled detection of the genetic mater...