The foot and mouth disease virus type O outbreak of 1992 is not related to vaccine strain (O/R2/75).

Vaccination is the only pragmatic approach to control foot and mouth disease in India. Strict quality control measures are essential to supply potent vaccine to the field application, in addition to monitoring the performance of the vaccine in the field. During the process of monitoring, an outbreak of FMD in vaccinated animals caused by type "O" virus in Tanjavur district of Tamil Nadu and a type "O" virus from unvaccinated herd of Karnataka were studied.

Antigenic structure of foot and mouth disease virus type A22 (Indian isolates).

Variations in foot and mouth disease virus are due to amino acid substitutions in the VP1, which is a major immunogen. Analysis of this hypervariable region is essential to know the antigenic structure of the serotype and is necessary to select a suitable vaccine strain. FMDV type A22 is one of the four prevailing virus types for which the vaccine is used regularly.

Expression and characterization of the hepatitis E virus ORF3 protein in the methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris.

We have used the methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris, to express the open reading frame 3 (ORF3) of the hepatitis E virus (HEV). The ORF3 gene codes for a 123-amino-acid protein that contains highly immunodominant epitopes and is a potentially useful diagnostic and immunoprophylactic antigen. The expressed protein showed positive on immunoblots probed against antibodies raised in rabbit and infected human patient sera.

Antigenic variation in Foot and Mouth Disease Virus type Asia 1 isolates circulated during 1993-95 in India.

The antigenic variation in Foot and Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) is very high. The effective strategy to control the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in India which is a habitat of four serotypes O, A, C and Asia 1, is by regular vaccination, using the vaccine strain most suitable for the local situation. India is an endemic country with the disease being widely distributed.