Evaluation of Sandwich Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay and Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction for the Diagnosis of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Background: Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an infectious and highly contagious disease of cloven-hoofed domestic and wild animals, causing heavy economic losses to the livestock industry. Rapid and reliable diagnosis of the disease is essential for the implementation of effective control measures. This study compared sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (S-ELISA) and conventional reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the diagnosis of FMD. Methods: A total of 60 epithelial samples from suspected cases of FMD were tested using both S-ELISA and RT-PCR assays. The level of agreement between the assays was assessed by calculating the Kappa value. Results: S-ELISA detected 38 (63%) samples positive for FMD virus (FMDV). Being predominant, serotype O was detected in 22 (57.9%) of the total samples tested positive, whereas 9 (23.7%) and 7 (18.4%) samples were found positive for serotypes A and Asia-1, respectively. RT-PCR detected viral genome in 51 (85%) of the samples using pan-FMDV primers set, 1F/1R. Thirty-six samples were found positive and 7 negative by both the tests. The level of agreement between the tests was assessed by calculating the Kappa value, which was found to be fair (Kappa value = 0.303 and 95% CI = 0.089; 0.517) and significant (p = 0.009). However, 2 samples, which were found positive on S-ELISA tested negative on RT-PCR. This may be attributed to the presence of nucleotide mismatch(es) in the primer-binding sites that may have resulted in failure of amplification of the viral genome. The serotype-specific RT-PCR assays not only confirmed serotyping results of S-ELISA but were also able to establish serotype in 9 S-ELISA-negative but pan-FMDV RT-PCR-positive samples. Conclusions: The RT-PCR assay contributes significantly to establishing a quick, sensitive, and definitive diagnosis of FMD in resource-constrained countries. Samples giving negative results in S-ELISA should be tested in RT-PCR for the disease detection and virus typing.