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Diagnosis |
Laboratory diagnosis |
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Antigenic analysis of strains of FMD virus |
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Serotype The first stage of antigenic characterisation is to identify the serotype of the virus. This is performed at the same time as FMD diagnosis by means of the FMD antigen detection ELISA. ELISA The field isolates are then compared with a range of vaccine strains of the same serotype in the strain characterisation ELISA in order to select the most suitable vaccine strain to use in control. Monoclonal antibody profile Panels of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have been created against a number of serotypes of FMD. In many cases the epitopes recognised by the MAbs are known at the protein sequence level. These panels of MAbs can be used to create a 'profile' of field isolates. Binding of a MAb with a particular virus suggests that the epitope it recognises is present in the same conformation as on the parental virus used to create the MAb. Similarly, if a MAb fails to bind a field virus it suggests that the epitope which it recognises on the parental virus is not present on the field isolate. Large numbers of field viruses can rapidly be screened against an appropriate panel of MAbs to create profiles which indicate similarities between strains. |
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