cattle, swine, and other livestock [36] . The disease has been known for five centuries and its causative agent, the FMD virus (FMDV), belongs to the genus Aphthovirus of the family Picornaviridae [1] . The FMDV genome is composed of a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA molecule of about 8500 nucleotides that contains a unique open reading frame. Like other RNA viruses, FMDV is antigenically variable and undergoes rapid mutation. There are seven distinguishable serological types of FMDV, namely O, A, C, Asia I, SAT1, SAT2, and SAT3. Current FMD vaccines based on inactivated virus are effective in preventing the disease, but carry the risks of incomplete inactivation and viral escape from vaccine production laboratories [26] , and they fail to induce an immune response in a short period. Thus, the development of emergency antiviral strategies is necessary in order to stem outbreaks of FMD.