November 12, 2015

MSD presents foot-and-mouth disease research awards

Press Release

MSD Animal Health (known as Merck Animal Health in the US and Canada) presented awards to four young scientists at the Global Foot-and-Mouth Disease Research Alliance (GFRA) 2015 Scientific Meeting held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in honour of their research in disease-endemic areas.

In an effort to recognise individuals who embody the company's commitment to the "Science of Healthier Animals", Dr. Syed Jamal of Pakistan and Nguyen Van Long of Vietnam were honoured for best oral presentations, and Raphael Sallu of Tanzania and Truong Dinh Bao of Vietnam were honoured for best poster presentations.

"Receiving the award of best poster encourages me to work more in this domain," said winner Truong Dinh Bao. "GFRA is a useful meeting to share and be informed of research being conducted all over the world, and it also indicates important gaps in knowledge that can lead us to conduct further research."

"Every year, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) causes enormous economic losses to the livestock industry resulting from morbidity in adult animals, reduced animal productivity, mortality in young stock and restriction to international trade in animals and animal products due to sanitary control measures, and affects more than 100 countries around the world," added winner Dr. Syed Jamal, University of Malakand, Pakistan. "Further research on epidemiology of the disease, diagnostics, characterisation of the FMD virus and vaccinology is required to improve control of the disease in endemic areas and to reduce the threat to the disease-free areas."

The winning presentations were: "Molecular Characterisation of Recently Isolated Foot and-Mouth Disease Viruses in Tanzania," Raphael Sallu, Tanzania; "An Innovative Way to Evaluate Farmers' Perception of Foot-and-Mouth Vaccination in Vietnam," Truong Dinh Bao, Vietnam; "Evidence for Multiple Recombination Events Within Genomes of FMDVs Circulating in West Eurasia," Syed Jamal, Pakistan; "A Study on Animal Movement and Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Central Vietnam from March to August 2014," Nguyen Van Long, Vietnam.

"MSD Animal Health is committed to fostering innovations that will help governments better respond to outbreaks, including the recent development of a mapping tool that shows the impact of a response strategy over a five-year period," said Alasdair King, director, Intergovernmental Veterinary Health, MSD Animal Health.

The GFRA Meeting brings research scientists from all over the world together to discuss progress regarding vaccines, diagnostic assays, role of carriers and the socioeconomic impact of FMD. More information about the Meeting can be found at http://gfra2015.org/.