A SYNTHETIC vaccine against foot and mouth disease has triumphed in its first full trial. But despite its promise, it is unclear whether it will ever be used.
All existing vaccines consist of whole foot and mouth viruses that have been inactivated, but these can sometimes cause the disease. The new “component” vaccine, however, consists of a single protein that resembles part of the virus. During tests in Taiwan, it protected 20 out of 21 vaccinated pigs. “That’s better than conventional vaccines,” says Alan Walfield of United Biomedical, the New York company that developed the vaccine.
The success of the…
