Raising of Hyper-immune Serum Against FMD Virus Type “O” Prevailing in Punjab, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is supposed to be an imperative disease of domestic and wild ruminants which is a vast reason of high mortality in young animals and production losses in adults. The supreme prevailing stains of FMD in Asia are “O”, “A “and “Asia-I”, which are supposed to be a big threat to economy and commonly not properly diagnosed. For appropriate diagnoses, hyper-immune serum is required. Methods: A study was conducted to produce hyper-immune serum in rabbits which were divided into three groups including Group-I, Group-II and a control group. Results: First two groups were weekly inoculated with FMD virus Serotype “O” for six weeks and confirmation of the infection was done with the help of compliment fixation test (CFT), while antibody titer was measured by using ager gel precipitation test (AGPT). Group-II consisting of female rabbits showed earlier and higher titer (Log27) than group-I (Male rabbits) having lower titer (Log25). Conclusion: The study recommended the use of females rabbits to raise hyper-immune serum to attain higher titer.