Serological differentiation of animals infected and vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease virus

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a severe and highly infectious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. Differentiating FMDV-infected animals from those that have merely been vaccinated is important for international and local trade of live animals, FMD control programs and in particular for eradication campaigns where emergency vaccinations have been applied. Several diagnostic tests have been developed to distinguish between these animals and are all based on detecting antibodies for non-structural proteins (NSPs) of FMDV. These assays have been described using either panels of proteins or individual proteins 3D, 2C, 3AB1 or 3ABC. The response to 3ABC and its cleavage products (mainly 3AB, 3A and 3B) seem to be the most reliable indices. of infection. There are four commercially available tests for antibodies to FMDV NSPs: CHEKIT FMD-3ABC (Bommeli AG, Switzerland), Ceditest FMDV-NS (Cedi-Dignostics, B.V. the Netherlands), SVANOIR FMDV 3ABC-Ab ELISA (Svanova Biotech AB, Sweden) as well as UBI FMDV NSP ELISA (United Biomedical, Inc., USA). These kits have been validated to some extent but need to be harmonized and standardized against a set of standards which should cover different epidemiological situations.