ICAR-National Institute on Foot and Mouth Disease(NIFMD), the premier institute for FMD research in India, was established as an All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) for FMD in 1968. The Foot-and-Mouth Disease has been known tobe widely prevalent in India even during the early years of the 19th century, work on the disease could not be initiated at the Imperial Bacteriological Laboratory (Indian Veterinary Research Institute), Mukteswar, in earlier years owing to paucity of infrastructure and scientific manpower, etc. Thus, during the deliberations at Eleventh International Veterinary Congress in 1930 it was observed that sufficient scientific staff will become available in the near future to undertake research on FMD in India. However, until 1942 FMD and the virus serotypes responsible for the disease outbreaks in the country did not receive required attention. In May 1943, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) sponsored an ad-hoc scheme entitled “Vaccination of Indian cattle against Foot-and-mouth Disease” at IVRI, Mukteswar to initiate research on the disease and to evolve suitable vaccine for protecting Indian cattle against FMD. Serotyping of FMD by guinea pig cross-protection test was initiated and the virus serotype Asia 1 in India was confirmed on material obtained from an outbreak in 1956-57. With progress in research work, virus serotype identification in outbreak samples by cross-immunity test in guinea pigs found a replacement in complement fixation test (CFT) in 1964-65. In order to strengthen the research activity on FMD, an integrated.

“All India Co-ordinated Research Project (AICRP) for FMD virus serotyping” was initiated in 1968 by ICAR with central FMD laboratory at Mukteswar and three Regional Centres located at Hisar, Hyderabad, and Calcutta. Subsequently the scope of this project was expanded in July 1971 to “All India Co-ordinated Research Project for Epidemiological studies on Foot-and-Mouth Disease” with increased outlay and inputs in terms of laboratory space, experimental animal shed facility, scientific manpower, additional Regional Centres and Epidemiological Units for extensive FMD surveillance throughout the country. During the year 2001 AICRP on FMD was upgraded to the status of Project Directorate on Foot and Mouth Disease (PDFMD) with headquarters at Mukteswar and a network of 23 laboratories located all over the country. In the year 2015, PDFMD was renamed as Directorate of FMD (DFMD) with 27 Regional and Collaborating centres covering all the major regions of the country. The AICRP on FMD was concluded with effect from 31st March 2020 as India launched the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) on September 11, 2019. Since then, the state FMD laboratories are being operated through funding from DAHD, GoI under NADCP with technical input from ICAR-DFMD. The Directorate has developed scientific expertise in conventional as well as in cutting edge areas, in the field of FMD diagnosis, epidemiology and research. The mandate of the institute is to carry out research on the epidemiology of FMD in the country and develop technologies to control the disease with the ultimate goal of eradication. It is also entrusted with the duty of providing technical support and scientific inputs to the planners and strategy-making agencies in planning control of FMD in the country and the SAARC region. ICAR-DFMD is a member of the FAO/OIE Network of FMD Reference Laboratories. The institute also functions as the FAO-FMD Reference Centre and SAARC Regional Leading Diagnostic Laboratory for FMD. The institute is also a member of GFRA (Global FMD Research Alliance). The state-of-the-art FMD research centre (ICFMD) with high containment laboratory facility (BSL-3Ag) has been established by ICAR at Bhubaneswar meets the requirement of FMDCP as stipulated by OIE/FAO, and will cater to the need of researchers and scientists of India and abroad for safe handling of FMD virus as per international norms. ICFMD has the infrastructure to analyze exotic FMD virus strains in order to develop preparedness in diagnostics and vaccines to prevent their incursion in South Asia. Several highly sensitive indigenous diagnostic kits have been developed and are being used for real-time monitoring and surveillance of FMD in animals. Information on the genetic and antigenic spectrum of circulating genotypes/lineages of FMD is being generated by molecular epidemiological analyses. The ICAR-DFMD also identifies and supplies appropriate vaccine strains to the Indian vaccine manufacturers.