Foot-and-mouth disease virus: a long known virus, but a current threat

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) was the first animal virus identified. Since then, FMDV has become a model system in animal virology and a conside rable amount of information on its structure, biology and vaccinology has b een obtained. However, the disease that this virus produces (FMD) still con stitutes one of the main animal health concerns. In this review, we have at tempted to summarise the state of the knowledge in different basic and appl ied areas of FMDV research, with emphasis on those aspects relevant to the control of the disease.