Detection and significance of persistent viral activity evaluated under experimental and field conditions

BERGMANN, I.E.; NEITZERT, E.; MALIRAT, V.; CORREA MELO, E.

Viña del Mar, Chile

Simposio; 10 Simposio Internacional de Epidemiología y Economía Veterinaria, ISVEE 10,; 2003

International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics

In view of the progress of foot-and-mouth (FMD) eradication campaigns in Southamerica, active surveillance actions to monitor persistent viral activity within and among herds, irrespective of vaccination, became of great relevance. In this context, PANAFTOSA developed and validated an original approach, based on the immunoenzymatic detection of antibodies to FMD non capsideal recombinant proteins. A summarized overview of the validation process is presented. Proper criteria for interpretation of results and for productive exploitation of the data, when applying the system towards the understanding of the significance of persistent viral activity under field conditions, are discussed.