Evaluation of the solid phase competition ELISA for detecting antibodies against the six foot-and-mouth disease virus non-O serotypes.

The solid-phase competition ELISA (SPCE) has been evaluated in both screening and titration assay formats for detecting antibodies against foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) for the six non-O serotypes A, C, SAT 1, SAT 2, SAT 3 and Asia 1. Cut-off values were determined as a percentage inhibition of 40 for the SAT serotypes and 50 for serotypes A, C and Asia 1, which gave rise to specificity values ranging from 99.41% to 99.

Dolphin morbillivirus epizootic resurgence, Mediterranean Sea.

In July 2007, > 100 striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba, were found dead along the coast of the Spanish Mediterranean. Of 10 dolphins tested, 7 were positive for a virus strain closely related to the dolphin morbillivirus that was isolated during a previous epizootic in 1990.

Recent epidemiology of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV).

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an economically important viral disease of goats and sheep first described in west Africa in the 1940s. The virus has been circulating in parts of sub-Saharan Africa for several decades and in the Middle East and southern Asia since 1993, although the first description of the virus in India dates to 1987. To study the genetic relationship between isolates of distinct geographical origin, a selected region of the fusion (F) protein gene of the viruses was amplified using RT/PCR and the resulting DNA product sequenced for phylogenetic analysis.