SHORT REPORT Molecular characterization of SAT 2 foot-and-mouth disease virus from post-outbreak slaughtered animals : implications for disease control in Uganda S.N. BALINDA 1 *, G.J. BELSHAM 2 , C. MASEMBE 1 , A. K. SANGULA 1 , H.R. SIEGISMUND 3 AND V.B. MUWANIKA 1 1 Makerere University, Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, Molecular Biology Laboratory, Kampala, Uganda 2 National Veterinary Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Lindholm, Kalvehave, Denmark 3 Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark (Accepted 20 November 2009; first published online 14 December 2009) SUMMARY In Uganda, limiting the extent of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) spread during outbreaks involves short-term measures such as ring vaccination and restrictions of the movement of livestock and their products to and from the affected areas. In this study, the presence of FMD virus RNA was investigated in cattle samples 3 months after FMD quarantine measures had been lifted following an outbreak in 2004. Oropharyngeal tissue samples were obtained from 12 cattle slaughtered in a small town abattoir in Kiboga. FMD virus RNA was detected by diagnostic RT–PCR in nine of the 12 tissue samples. Part of the coding region for the capsid protein VP1 was amplified and sequenced. All samples were identified as belonging to the SAT 2 serotype. The implications for FMD control of both virus introduction into Uganda and the presence of carrier animals following outbreaks are discussed. Key words : FMD control, SAT 2, sequence divergence. Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) belongs to the genus Aphthovirus within the family Picornaviri- dae and is the causative agent of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious infection of cloven-hoofed animals. Disease spread is mainly through direct and indirect contact, the former in- volving mechanical transfer of droplets from infected animals to other susceptible animals while the latter route is through contaminated personnel, vehicles and all classes of fomities [1]. Airborne transmission over long distances has been implicated under certain cli- matic and meteorological conditions particularly in respect of domestic pigs that exhale the highest quantities of airborne virus [2]. This is easily passed onto ruminants that are highly susceptible to infection by the respiratory route. In recent years, FMD has crossed international borders to areas that were pre- viously considered FMD free, as was the case in Japan and UK in 2000 and 2001, respectively. The economic impact experienced by affected countries is usually in terms of reduction in animal production, costs of disease control and restrictions to trade at both local and international levels resulting in re- duced GDP. Grave losses can be experienced es- pecially by FMD-free countries as was the case in the UK where a total cost of over £3 billion [3] was in- curred in 2001. In Uganda, FMD control has mainly been through the use of ring vaccination, zoosanitary measures, re- strictions on the movement of livestock and livestock * Author for correspondence : Miss S. N. Balinda, Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, Molecular Biology Laboratory, P.O. Box 7298, Kampala, Uganda. (Email: sbalinda@muienr.mak.ac.ug or sbalinda@gmail.com) Epidemiol. Infect. (2010), 138, 1204–1210. f Cambridge University Press 2009 doi:10.1017/S0950268809991427 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268809991427 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 3.90.217.106, on 17 Nov 2021 at 16:46:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.