Virus insight may help avoid farm culls

New insight into foot-and-mouth disease could help develop alternatives to mass culling, following University research. Scientists have pinpointed a time window during which cattle infected with the virus can be identified before they become infectious to other cattle, or show signs of illness. Window of opportunity. The research, carried out by scientists at the University and the Institute for Animal Health, shows that diagnosis of foot-and-mouth disease infection is possible during a window of approximately 24 hours before the animal becomes infectious. The time frame during which cattle are infectious before they show clinical signs of disease is much shorter than previously thought. We now know that there is a window where, if affected cattle are detected and removed promptly, there may be no need for pre-emptive culling in the immediate area. Professor Mark Woolhouse Centre for Infectious Diseases - Field testing.