SUSCEPTIBILITY OF LLAMAS (LAMA-GLAMA) TO INFECTION WITH FOOT-AND-MOUTH-DISEASE VIRUS

An experimental trial was conducted to evaluate the ability of foot-an d-mouth-disease (FMD) virus (serotypes A(79), C-3, O-1) to infect susc eptible llamas exposed either directly to affected livestock, or indir ectly to llamas that had been directly exposed to affected livestock. In addition, susceptible livestock species (cattle, pigs, goats, and s heep) were exposed to those llamas that had been both directly and ind irectly exposed to the FMD virus to further look at potential transmis sion possibilities. Of 30 llamas directly exposed to the FMD virus, on ly three (3/30) showed evidence of infection, and of those, only two ( 2/30) had mild clinical signs. No FMD virus was isolated from either o esophageal-pharyngeal (OP) fluid or blood samples collected from the i nfected llamas beyond 14 days post-exposure. There was no evidence of virus transmission between the directly exposed and indirectly exposed llamas or between both groups of llamas acid susceptible domestic liv estock, as determined by the lack of clinical signs, by virus isolatio n, and by serology results. These results provide further evidence tha t llamas are resistant to FMD infection, and that they play a minor ro le, if any, in transmitting the virus to domestic livestock.