£2 million grant for FMD research
The Institute for Animal Health (IAH)'s Pirbright laboratory is at the centre of a new global strategy, announced by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), to tackle foot-and-mouth disease.
The laboratory has been awarded £2 million for UK-based research to go towards vaccine development.
Bryan Charleston, head of the Livestock Viral Disease programme at IAH, said: "Over the 15 years covered by this strategy and with the funding committed, there is a chance to make great strides not only in FMD, but to improve veterinary services and control of many livestock diseases cross the world."
He added: "Ultimately, we will need to have vaccines against FMD that are at least as effective as existing vaccines, but are easier to manufacture and handle. At the institute, we are focused on developing vaccines that can be produced on a large scale without the need for high containment facilities and that are stable at higher temperatures."
At last month's global conference, held in Thailand, OIE and FAO outlined a 15-year plan to tackle the disease, including improving veterinary surveillance and coordination between countries and applying lessons learned from the global eradication of rinderpest.
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