Detection and identification of foot-and-mouth disease O/ME-SA/Ind-2001 virus lineage, Indonesia, 2022

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a contagious disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, which has been well-documented as one of the major animal diseases that causes severe economic loss in livestock sectors. The disease is endemic in many countries, particularly in Asia and Africa. Indonesia has been declared a disease-free country since 1986, and the World Organization of Animal Health (WOAH/OIE) recognized Indonesia as an FMD-free country without vaccination in 1990. However, the FMD virus was detected in many disease outbreaks in cattle and goats in Indonesia in May 2022. This study reports the detection and identification of FMD serotype O viruses in Indonesia. Although these viruses appeared to belong to the ME-SA/Ind-2001e lineage, they formed a unique cluster with 95.3% average nucleotide sequence similarity of the FMD VP1 gene to Ind-2001e viruses from other Asia countries. The illegal trade of live animals from endemic areas in Southeast Asia is one of the possible routes regarding the incursion of FMD in Indonesia, however, it requires further investigation.

Automated summary

This study reports the detection and identification of serotype O foot-and-mouth disease viruses in Indonesia. These viruses belong to the ME-SA/Ind-2001e lineage and have 95.3% nucleotide sequence similarity to Ind-2001e viruses from other Asian countries. The illegal trade of live animals from Southeast Asia may be a possible route for the introduction of foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia, but further investigation is needed.