South Korea develops gene-based testing liquid for FMD

South Korea has developed the world's first gene-based testing liquid for detection of "Type A" foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) on animals.

It took four years for the development of the liquid substance, according to NVRQS, as the department plan to release the product for commercial use within this year.

The new liquid is created through the so-called gene recombination method that does not use a live virus which as a result imposes less risk of virus leakage and requires no specialised laboratories for development.

The current FMD test liquids in the market are made through the "antibody method" that uses the actual virus for development, making it necessary to have high-cost filtering facilities to prevent any unintended spread of the disease.

The discovery has been published in the January issue of the Clinical and Vaccine Immunology Journal.