The persistence of foot-and-mouth disease virus on wool.
Five Suffolk sheep, held in a high-security isolation room, were exposed for 2 hours to the aerosol of 3 mature pigs that had been infected with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), strain O1-BFS. The fleeces of 3 of the sheep were contaminated with FMDV at 2 days post exposure (dpe), while at 5 dpe the fleeces of all 5 sheep were more extensively, and more heavily, contaminated. The persistence of FMDV on contaminated wool was examined in vitro using multiple 0.5 g samples of Merino wool that were each contaminated with one of 3 strains of FMDV in tissue-cultured medium: O1-BFS, O-Morocco (O-MOR 9/91) or an Asia 1 strain (TAI 1/90). Wool samples were held at either 4 degrees C, 18 degrees C or 37 degrees C, and decay curves were established for each virus at each temperature. These curves predicted that O1-BFS, O-MOR 9/91 and TAI 1/90 would fall below detectable levels at 72, 70 and 48 days post contamination (pc), respectively, for wool stored at 4 degrees C; at 11, 12 and 12 days pc, respectively, for wool stored at 18 degrees C; and at 57, 68 and 33 hours pc, respectively, for wool stored at 37 degrees C. For wool contaminated with O1-BFS-infected sheep faeces, urine or blood, or with O1-BFS-infected cattle saliva, decay curves predicted virus to persist for 5 to 11 days pc at 18 degrees C.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
McColl
K A
KA
CSIRO-Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria.
Westbury
H A
HA
Kitching
R P
RP
Lewis
V M
VM
D000818:Animals; D005537:Aphthovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D002417:Cattle; D003902:Detergents / Q000494:pharmacology; D005536:Foot-and-Mouth Disease / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology*; D013552:Swine; D013997:Time Factors; D014935:Wool / Q000821:virology*
D003902:Detergents