The Susceptibility of Some Australian Fauna to Infection With Foot and Mouth Disease Virus

Summary Several species of Australian fauna were tested for their susceptibility to infection with foot and mouth disease virus. The majority of the fauna tested would support the multiplication of virus after either intramuscular or intradermal inoculation, although clinical signs of foot and mouth disease were rarely seen. The preferred sites for virus multiplication appeared to be the soft palate and pharynx in the red kangaroos, and the salivary glands in the water rats. The serum neutralizing antibody titres to foot and mouth disease virus in the kangaroos, wallabies and wombats reached a peak 14 days after inoculation and then gradually declined. Serum neutralizing antibody could not be de‐ tected in the echidnas 21 days after inoculation, but significant titres were present 35 days after inoculation. When red kangaroos and wombats were closely confined with cattle, it was found that (i) a proportion of red kangaroos infected by intramuscular inoculation was capable of infecting cattle, (ii) infected cattle were capable of infecting red kangaroos and wombats, and (iii) after being confined with infected cattle for 48 hr., red kangaroos subsequently did not infect susceptible cattle when confined with them. It was not possible to demonstrate spread of infection from infected red kangaroos to previously unexposed red kangaroos, or persistence of virus in red kangaroos. It is concluded that it would be only under exceptional conditions that the Australian fauna tested in this study would participate in the spread of foot and mouth disease under field conditions.