May 16, 2011 Skin cells shed from livestock infected with foot
and mouth disease could very well spread the disease. In a new
paper appearing in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Michael Dillon
proposed that virus-infected skin cells could be a source of
infectious foot and mouth disease virus aerosols. His proposal
is based on the facts that foot and mouth disease virus is found
in skin and that airborne skin cells are known to transmit other
diseases. The proposal could lead to new methods for
surveillance for foot and mouth disease (as in settled dust),
the development of more effective control measures, and improved
studies of the persistence of the disease in the environment.
The research also may be applicable to how other infectious
diseases are spread. Foot and mouth is a highly contagious viral
disease capable of causing widespread epidemics in livestock.
The foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) has multiple known
routes of transmission. These inc