A potential godsend for livestock farmers

A group of researchers of Bangladesh has brought good news for livestock farmers of the country, as they have invented an effective, low-cost trivalent vaccine for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) that affects cattle and sheep.

The discovery was revealed by Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at a press conference held at International Mothers Language Institute yesterday.

He said a 17-member research team led by Prof Mohammad Anwar Hossain of department of microbiology at Dhaka University found out the genome of three serotypes of the virus that cause FMD in Bangladesh.

The team identified the three serotypes -- O, A and Asia 1 -- circulating in Bangladesh, during their six year-long research work from 2012 to 2018 under the project “Higher Education Quality Enhancement”, he said.

Based on the genomes, they prepared the vaccine for FMD, he said.

A total of 5.51 crore domestic animals like cows, sheep, goat and buffaloes were infected by FMD last year, which is a huge economic loss for the country, said Nahid, adding that Bangladesh annually faces a loss of $125 million due to FMD.

Prof Anwar, also vice-chancellor of Jessore University of Science and Technology, said though there is a supply of locally-manufactured and imported FMD vaccines, there is still a big deficit of it in Bangladesh.

He requested the prime minister to take initiatives to build a pilot-scale incubator to take the innovation to user-level technology to make the vaccine available.

Imported and locally-manufactured vaccines are often not effective, as the virus, which is being used to prepare the vaccine does not match the virus prevalent in the country, or because sufficient levels of antigen are not used, he said.

Currently, the cost of a dose of imported vaccine is between Tk 120 and Tk 200, but the cost of the newly-invented vaccine would be Tk 60 to Tk 70, said Nahid.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most contagious diseases of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and many cloven-hoofed wild animals. The disease is caused by a virus of the genus Aphthovirus under the family Picornaviridae. Among the seven serotypes of FMD virus worldwide, three have been detected in Bangladesh.

Livestock sector is an important sub-sector of agriculture in Bangladeshm and its overall contribution to the agricultural Gross Domestic Products (GDP) is 13.62% and to national GDP is 1.54 percent, said the education minister.

Some 20 percent of the country's labour force is associated in rearing livestock, and a major portion of the rural population is directly or indirectly linked to the livestock sector that plays a pivotal role in people's day-to-day economy, he said.

An application has already been submitted to the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks and a process to submit an application to India for international patent of the vaccine is underway.

Among others, eminent writer Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, Chairman of University Grants Commission Prof Abdul Mannan, Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Sohrab Hossain and Project Director Dr Gauranga Chandra Mohanta addressed the press conference.