Foot and mouth disease [FMD]: serological investigation in some farms of Alexandria governorate of Egypt

ABSTRACT

Suspected cases of foot and mouth disease [FMD] in cattle were noted in some farms of Alexandria governorate during the period from January to March 2000. The investigated cattle suffered from oral and foot lesions associated with lameness in addition to fever in some and inappetance in others. At the same time, the contact workers and veterinarian suffered from fever during the course of the disease in cattle. Blood samples were withdrawal from suspected cases of cattle [31 cows] and from 24 contact cases. Saliva and vesicular lesions of the tongue were taken on glycerol buffer saline for isolation and serotyping of FMD virus by hyperimmune sera. The virus was isolated from all saliva and vesicular lesions of the diseased animals and serotyped as FMD01. Only 10 out of 24 contact cases were positive by ELISA for anti-FMD antibodies. Also, 25 blood samples were withdrawal from contact persons with diseased animals and were suffered from fever. While, 25 blood samples were taken from contact persons who did not suffer from fever. Moreover, 5 blood samples were taken from persons who were not in contact with any veterinary source [children] and were used as negative control. A total of 13 out of 25 and 2 out of 25 were positive for anti-FMD antibodies from diseased and contact persons, respectively