Natural and vaccine induced immunity to FMD

A brief overview of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) literature over the last 100 years will give the impression that a great deal is known about the immune response of livestock to infection and vaccination. At the practical level, this is indeed the case and our knowledge is more than adequate in relation to the production and supply of potent vaccines for the control of the disease. The deficiencies in our understanding of the immune response are at the fundamental level and, arguably, stand in the way of its rational manipulation to achieve goals such as life-long immunity conferred by vaccination. Most of the research activity to date has focused on T cell dependency of the immune response of livestock and important B (and probably T) cell epitopes and has been used by researchers to design highly sophisticated novel vaccines and delivery systems. None of these, to the author's knowledge, exceeds the potency obtained with a good commercial vaccine. Although it is not yet possible to see a clear direction for the development of improved formulations, it is important to reflect on our current knowledge of natural and vaccine-induced immunity and some of the issues surrounding modern inactivated FMD vaccines. This process will perhaps help to discriminate the fact from the fiction and serve to focus on precisely what is needed or desirable for improved products.