Research and Development of Countermeasures to Support the Surveillance and Control of Foot and Mouth Disease virus in Uganda

•  Project 1- Novel Countermeasures Designed for the Progressive Control of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus in Uganda, ARS-Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center (PIADC), Orient Point, NY and Makerere University Faculty Veterinary Medicine, Kampala, Uganda, and Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI), South Africa.  Collaborators wil focus on the necessary disease surveillance, carried out by Makarere University veterinarians working in close coordination with the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, to better enable the appropriate control strategies by properly identifying FMD virus strains circulating in Uganda.  This epidemiological knowledge will enable the progressive control and potential eradicaiton of FMD in Uganda by informing national and regional bodies of the specific FMD viral strains in the region.
  
  
• Project 2- Development of Improved Diagnostic Tools and Comprehensive Surveillance Program, ARS-Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center (PIADC), Orient Point, NY and Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), Entebbe, Uganda, and Ben Gurion University Department of Virology and Development Genetics, Beer Sheva, Israel.  Collaborators will develop an inexpensive FMD virus diagnostic kit based on camel monoclonal antibodies.  In close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), surveillands of FMD virus in Uganda and identificaiton of local strains, and genetics will be determined.  This work will be integrated with the samples collected in Project 1. The ecosystem of FMD virus will be studied by determining the animals that comprise the local reservoir (determined via sampling of various animals in FMD affected Ugandan districts.