PrioCHECK FMDV NS ELISA for in vitro detection of antibodies against Foot and Mouth Disease Virus in serum of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is the most important economic threat to the livestock industry. The highly contagious disease affects all cloven-hoofed animals and is wide-spread over the world. The FMD viruses are classified into 7 distinct serotypes which makes diagnosis using conventional serological methods complex. To control outbreaks in the future emergency vaccination will be carried out. Vaccines consist of (partly) purified structural proteins of the FMD virus and therefore vaccinated animals only elicit antibodies directed against the structural proteins of the virus. However, after infection with FMDV, antibodies directed against the structural and the non-structural proteins are produced. Therefore an ELISA detecting antibodies against non-structural proteins of FMDV detects not only infected animals but also discriminates between infected and vaccinated animals. The PrioCHECK FMDV NS detects antibodies directed against the non structural 3ABC protein of FMDV. The ELISA detects FMDV infected animals independent of the serotype that causes the infection and independent of the fact that the animal is vaccinated or not. The ELISA can be used to test serum samples of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.