National Institute of Animal Health, NARO

Exotic Disease Group

Foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever are infectious diseases of livestock that spread across national borders and cause enormous damage to affected countries. Currently, it has not occurred in Japan, but it has been prevalent in neighboring countries, and there is concern that it will invade the country. In Japan, swine fever, which had not occurred for a long time, occurred in Honshu in 2018 for the first time in 26 years, and after that it has spread widely to wild boars.

Exotic Disease Group will contribute to the transboundary animal infectious disease control by utilizing the Overseas Diseases Special Laboratory Building, an advanced containment facility. Simultaneously we are also working to develop quick and accurate diagnosis methods and effective control methods that will help to ensure the prevention of epidemics in the event of an emergency.

Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Antigen Detection Kit with Pharmaceutical Approval for Animal Drug Manufacturing License

Specifically、

  • Development of high-precision rapid diagnostic methods
  • Elucidation of viral pathogenicity by animal experiments
  • Search for antiviral drugs
  • Development of vaccine using gene modification technology
  • Development of new animal models suitable for research on transboundary animal infectious diseases
  • Analysis of host immune system
  • Establishment of optimal diagnostic methods for disease diagnosis along with production and distribution of diagnostic reagents

and other research and technological developments.

In addition, based on the characteristic of disease which falls under "transboundary disease", we are striving to establish a system to protect Japanese livestock from the threat of infectious diseases through international cooperation, information gathering and technology dissemination.

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