23 Apr 2025
Analysis indicates sheep could be as important as cattle in transmission of foot-and-mouth disease, although researchers believe more detailed clinical work may be needed to identify infected animals.
Chris Simpson
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Image: © Rokfeler / Adobe Stock
Sheep could play almost as important a role as cattle in the transmission of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), according to a newly released study.
Researchers believe more needs to be done to identify infected animals based on analysis from northern Nigeria, which has now been published in the Veterinary Research journal.
The research, conducted by The Pirbright Institute and Nigeria’s National Veterinary Research Institute, examined the influence of both small ruminants and contaminated environments on spreading the disease.
It found that force of infection in sheep was “comparable” to that of cattle, while the equivalent measure for goats was “significantly lower”.
The study acknowledged that common clinical signs of FMD among small ruminants were “not disease specific”.
But Georgina Limon-Vega, one of Pirbright’s lead researchers on the project, said its findings indicated “sheep could be almost as important as cattle in transmission in our study setting”.
She added: “More detailed clinical examination of sheep is recommended to avoid missing infected animals.
“It is also important to conduct similar field studies in other endemic areas to better understand the role of sheep in different geographic areas and production systems.”
The study also compared oral swabs with serum and environmental samples taken from the livestock in endemic surroundings.
The latter method, collected by swabbing hard floor surfaces, ropes, boots, transport vehicles and other areas likely to be contaminated by infected animals, was shown to be a particularly reliable mode of FMD surveillance.
Lead researcher Simon Gubbins said: “We found that environmental sampling was highly effective and a good herd level indicator of FMDV circulating in the area.
“The method is of particular value in places where sampling individual animals is challenging or not feasible.”
Concerns about FMD have grown in recent months following the confirmation of cases in Slovakia, Hungary, and Germany, prompting Defra to impose an EU-wide ban on personal imports of meat and dairy products being brought into Britain earlier this month.
Prior research has indicated that frequent and thorough environmental sampling can detect an infected herd two days quicker than the average time estimated in the 2001 UK epidemic via clinical inspection.
Dr Limon-Vega has called for further research to take place in light of their findings.
She said: “Our study highlights the importance of conducting field studies to understand disease transmission where FMDV is circulating in order to plan targeted and feasible control policies.”
