Foot and Mouth Disease Host resistance in Livestock

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) regularly causes serious outbreaks in livestock. The virus that causes the disease can infect cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and many species of wild animals; the disease is also highly contagious and spreads very quickly and easily. To control the spread of foot- and- mouth disease, farmers must often kill entire herds of animals that have been exposed. Wild animals that can spread the virus may also be killed in an effort to stop the spread of the disease. Vaccines that protect against foot-and-mouth disease are available and are often used to help prevent the spread of the disease. However, once an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease begins it may be too late for vaccines to stop its spread. This is because the vaccines can take about a week to provide protection, and by that time an exposed animal may already be very ill. This monograph gives an overview of the different developmental works carried out in the field of development of livestock resistance to FMD viz., transgenic cattle; pig; as well as goat. So the monograph will help the researchers as well as scientists to take up future work on development of FMD resistant transgenic animals.