Large-scale use of liquid-phase blocking sandwich ELISA for the evaluation of protective immunity against aphthovirus in cattle vaccinated with oil-adjuvanted vaccines in Argentina

Specific serum activity levels against four reference strains of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) were evaluated from 1634 animals vaccinated with commercial quadrivalent oil vaccines and from 746 unvaccinated, naive animals, using the liquid-phase blocking sandwich ELISA (lpELISA) test. Cows from the FMDV-free area of Argentina were tested for the absence of specific FMDV antibodies (sp FMDV Abs) and those showing lpELISA titres < 1.0 were grouped in lots of 16 animals. They were vaccinated and challenged at 90 days postvaccination (DPV) with one of four virus strains used for vaccine production and control (prototype strains). Serum samples from vaccinated and control cattle were collected 60 and 90 DPV and the level of sp FMDV Abs was determined by lpELISA. Animals were examined for clinical signs of disease. Results show that serum lpELISA titre levels directly correlate with the percentage of protected animals. It was seen that 100, 98, 93 and 87% of the vaccinated cattle with antibody titre levels > or = 2.1 were protected against challenge with serotypes C85, A87,01 Cas and A79, respectively. Evidence is also presented of seroconversion in a sample of 3-5-month-old calves vaccinated in the field, showing lpELISA titres compatible with protection against the four vaccine viruses as long as 150 DPV. Results reported in this paper strongly support the use of the lpELISA test for a rapid and reliable evaluation of the efficacy of FMDV commercial vaccines as well as for the assessment of the immunological status of cattle in FMDV-free and enzootic regions of South America.