Are the knowledge, tools and resources to control foot and mouth disease available?

Abstract

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. Together with other diseases highlighted in this special edition of the Scientific and Technical Review, the circulation of FMD virus in different parts of the world has shaped the work of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) over the past hundred years. In 2012, the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases, led by WOAH and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, established a joint FMD working group and a strategy for the control of FMD. Control of FMD requires political commitment to deliver the sustained investment and deploy the resources required to break the cycle of infection. This article highlights recent improvements in diagnostic and genomic tools, as well as new vaccine platform technologies that, if strategically deployed, have the potential to improve the control of this disease. The article also reflects on global and regional initiatives using the Progressive Control Pathway for FMD, which remains relevant and has wider positive benefits for the control of other transboundary animal diseases.