Epidemiological Diagnosis of Foot and Mouth Disease among Cattle in Sharkia and Kafr El Sheikh Governorates

Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) is one of the most contagious diseases affecting wide range of host species with variable severity and decreased productivity. Non-Structural Protein (NSP) 3ABC antibody is considered to be the most reliable indicator of present or past infection with Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) in vaccinated animals. An indirect ELISA was established, for detection of the antibody response to FMDV NSP 3ABC using commercial ELISA kit (Prio-check) for 1065 serum samples were collected (735) from Sharkia and (330) from Kafr El-Sheikh Governorates during 2009 from cattle and buffaloes. The higher percentage of positive was detected in Sharkia (31.7%) while Kafr El-sheikh was (27.3%).The positive result of detection of antibodies against non structured proteins of FMDV indicates that these samples come from natural infected animals. The further work is required to evaluate the performance of this method in different animal species and different field situations. The Prio check ELISA was also used for comparison with another commercial NSP ELISA kit (SVANOVIR). Suspected cases of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in cattle were noticed in some farms of Sharkia governorate. The investigated cattle suffered from oral and foot lesions associated with lameness in addition to fever in some and inappetence in others. Saliva and vesicular lesions were taken on glycerol buffer saline for serotyping of FMD virus by using antigen detection ELISA. The saliva and vesicular lesions of the diseased animals were serotyped as FMD serotype O.