Prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease antibodies in dairy herds in the Netherlands four years after vaccination

A total of 298 serum samples were collected from Dutch cattle born in 1988 or before, and examined in the virus neutralisation test for antibodies against foot-and-mouth disease virus types A(10)Holland, O1BFS, and C(1)Detmold. All the cattle had been vaccinated at least twice during the annual vaccination programme, which stopped in 1991. Antibody titres equal to or higher than the titre at which 95 per cent of the cattle would be expected to be protected against challenge, were found in 57 to 73 per cent of the younger age groups, and in 100 per cent of the older animals. Since the animals tested constituted only 10.5 per cent of the total cattle population on the farms tested, it is concluded that should the virus be introduced, foot-and-mouth disease would be detected as easily in the Netherlands as in a country with no history of vaccination.