Epidemiological study of FMDV in East Africa: the development on unbiased molecular tools to assess the burden of infection in endemic settings

Sustainable food production for the growing world population is a key challenge faced by the agricultural sector. Crucial factors are the control of diseases compromising animal productivity, and the improvement of animal health as a basis for safe, efficient, and high-quality production. Accurate surveillance and diagnosis are essential components of disease control programmes aimed at improving animal health and productivity. Molecular techniques offer great promise for enhancing diagnostic capacity. However, their application in developing countries, where animal diseases have the greatest impacts on food security, is still limited, primarily due to the need for technologies which are incompatible with current infrastructure in these countries. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) exemplifies these issues. FMD is a livestock disease of great economic importance, caused by a highly contagious virus (FMDV). The disease circulates in 77% of the global livestock population, costing 5 billion USD in production losses and control measures. Direct financial impacts are greatest in Africa with an estimated loss of 815 million USD. Tanzania has the third largest livestock population in Africa, but trading opportunities are poor due to the presence of four of the six known African virus types. In systems where livestock are key to livelihoods, FMD impacts on milk production and animal traction capacity are also considerable, increasing vulnerability of already impoverished communities. FMD control through vaccination has great potential to reduce the burden of FMD in Africa. However, the lack of real time molecular data on FMDV impacts the ability of countries such as Tanzania to control FMD through vaccination since the efficacy of the vaccine response is wholly dependent on matching the vaccine strain with strains circulating in the field. Without this knowledge only mass vaccination can be employed which is prohibitively expensive. If it was possible to characterise locally circulating strains responsible for outbreaks as they occur this would permit targeted vaccination, increasing affordability of vaccination as an option. The progressive control pathway (PCP) for FMD developed by FAO/OIE outlines six fundamental steps to guide countries through FMD control and eradication. The first step is the identification of risk and control options. Current laboratory infrastructure in East Africa lacks the necessary equipment and expertise to perform FMDV detection and characterisation.
This has constrained the creation of an FMD reference laboratory in East Africa, preventing countries such as Tanzania from independently entering into stage one of the PCP. The only comprehensive study on FMD viruses in Tanzania is based on archival (1967-2009) samples. Hence, gaps still exist in our understanding of currently circulating viruses, highlighting the urgent need for analyses of recent viruses from the area.The major stumbling block preventing Tanzania from undertaking high quality surveillance is the absence of suitable diagnostic technologies. If such assays could be developed and adapted for use on affordable automated platforms this would serve as a prerequisite for the improvement in diagnostic capacity and quality of laboratory testing in East Africa. This application addresses the BBSRC's remit to increase the efficiency and sustainability of animal production by generating knowledge and delivering tools which will
enable regions such as East Africa to manage the challenges they face with diseases such as FMD that compromise market opportunities, as well as food security. Focusing on northern Tanzania, we will i) provide a better understanding of circulating viruses that will directly inform vaccine selection and ii) develop reagents, protocols and platforms to enable newly established molecular assays to be transferred onto automated platforms suitable for deployment to laboratories in Tanzania.