DefinePK

Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of cloven-hoofed animals; it affects cattle, buffaloes, pigs, sheep, goats and about 70 wildlife species, e.g. African buffaloes. The disease has been present in almost every part of the world where livestock are kept. It can cause enormous economic losses when incursions occur into countries which are normally disease free. In addition, it has long-term effects within countries where the disease is endemic due to reduced animal productivity and the restrictions on international trade in animal products. In this study twenty two tissue samples from naturally infected cattle with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) type ‘O’ from different parts of Assam was examined for isolation of the virus in baby hamster kidney-21 (BHK-21) clone 13 cell line. Antigenic relationship of the isolated strains of FMDV with vaccine strain (IND R2/75) were carried out by calculation of the relative homology value (‘r’) from liquid phase blocking ELISA (LPBE) and two dimensional micro neutralization test (2D-MNT). Out of 22 samples 8 isolates of FMDV was obtained. Five isolates were closely related with the vaccine strain as determined by LPBE. The 2D-MNT reveled that all the field isolates were closely related with the vaccine strain. The results suggest that the vaccine strain might confer protection against the field strains of FMD type ‘O’ virus.