The effect of repeated vaccination in an enzootic foot-and-mouth disease area on the incidence of virus carrier cattle.

A comparison was made of the incidence of foot-and-mouth disease virus ;carrier' cattle in an unvaccinated enzootic area and an area where routine 6-monthly vaccination with an inactivated vaccine had been carried out for 3-4 years. The incidence of carriers in the vaccinated area was 0.49% as compared to 3.34% in the non-vaccinated area. The results indicate that, provided the immune status of the vaccinated herd is maintained at a level sufficient to prevent outbreaks of clinical disease and the re-introduction of virus is prevented through livestock movement controls, it should be possible to eradicate the disease from an enzootic area through vaccination.