Serological evidence of FMD subclinical infection in sheep population during the 1999 epidemic in Morocco.
During 1999, 11 outbreaks of foot and mouth disease (FMD) were declared in the east and central part of Morocco. All the FMD clinical cases reported were cattle. In order to analyse the serological status of sheep from the FMD outbreak areas, 598 sheep sera were tested using a liquid-phase blocking ELISA (LPBE) to detect antibodies against FMDV structural proteins. The study confirmed the presence of FMDV specific antibodies in 77 clinically normal sheep, indicating that unrecognised FMDV-infected sheep could represent a potential risk of FMD dissemination in Morocco.Subsequently, sera from flocks of sheep that had been exposed to FMD outbreaks were assayed by an indirect ELISA using the recombinant FMDV non-structural protein 3ABC expressed in E. coli to evaluate the potential use of this serological test in future epidemiological studies and the development of FMD control strategies. The results indicated that the 3ABC-ELISA was able to detect antibodies indicative of infection with FMDV in asymptomatic sheep in field conditions.
Blanco
Esther
E
Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Valdeolmos, Madrid 28130, Spain. blanco@inia.es
Romero
Luis J
LJ
El Harrach
Medhi
M
Sánchez-Vizcaíno
Jose-Manuel
JM
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005536:Foot-and-Mouth Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D029544:Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009018:Morocco / Q000453:epidemiology; D009500:Neutralization Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D011994:Recombinant Proteins