Overview on Pathology and Pathogenesis of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Small Ruminants

Abstract

Livestock plays an incredible role in most small-scale farming sectors across the globe. Among them, small ruminants (sheep and goats) contribute immensely to the livelihoods of millions of the rural poor in most of the developing nations including India. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) being a highly contagious viral disease of agriculturally important domestic species, severely constrains the overall productivity of any country. Owing to its rapid spread, the acronym ‘FMD ’is popularly elaborated or referred to as ‘Fast Moving Disease ’. Though sheep and goats represent the largest part of the world's FMD-susceptible domestic livestock population, they have largely been ignored with respect to their role in the epidemiology of the disease. This may partly be due to the often in apparent or subdued clinical symptoms exhibited by these species. However, many historical examples of FMD being introduced into previously disease-free countries by import of small ruminants clearly indicate their significant role in the disease epidemiology. With this background, we intend to brief the pathology and pathogenesis of FMD virus infection in small ruminants in this overview, so that the farming community and veterinarians may be well aware that will guide them in prompt diagnosis of the disease in field conditions thereby helping to take necessary biosecurity measures to check the spread of the disease in their herd.