ABSENCE OF PROTEIN 2C FROM CLARIFIED FOOT-AND-MOUTH-DISEASE VIRUS-VACCINES PROVIDES THE BASIS FOR DISTINGUISHING CONVALESCENT FROM VACCINATED ANIMALS

We have recently reported that cattle and pigs which have been vaccina ted against foot-and-mouth disease can be distinguished from convalesc ent animals by the absence of antibodies to viral non-structural prote in 2C (Lubroth and Brown, Res, Vet, Sci., 1995, 59, 70-78(1)). In this study, we show that the absence of 2C antibodies from the sera of vac cinated animals can be explained by the association of this viral prot ein with cellular debris which is separated from the virus harvest pri or to inactivation of the supernatant for vaccine production. This ser ological marker can be of great value in countries where the disease o ccurs or in the veterinary regulatory arena when livestock are transpo rted across borders, since it can be used to identify convalescent, pe rsistently infected animals and vaccinates exposed to wild-type virus variants which have infected the vaccinated animals. Copyright (C) 199 6 Elsevier Science Ltd.