Medycyna Wet. 64 (10), 1180-1183, 2008
| Paprocka G. |
| Pathogenesis of foot-and-mouth disease |
| Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral vesicular disease of cloven-hoofed animals of the Artiodactyla order. The disease is characterized by fever, lameness and vesicular lesions on the tongue, feet, snout and teats. It is generally accepted that primary infection of ruminants usually occurs by the respiratory route, whereas pigs are usually infected by the oral route. Pigs are much less susceptible to aerosol infection than cattle, yet they excrete far more aerosolized virus than cattle or sheep. In addition, cattle, sheep, and goats can become carriers. The virus elicits a rapid humoral response in either infected or vaccinated animals Virus-specific antibodies protect animals in a serotype-specific manner against reinfection, or against infection in the case of vaccination. Protection is correlated with a high levels of neutralizing antibodies. The role of cellular immunity in the protection of animals from FMD is still a matter of some controversy. |
| Keywords: FMD, virus infection, immunity |