A Close Look at the Quarantine Measures Applied During Live Cattle Importation

Abstract

Although it was the first animal disease to be attributed to a virus, which was the second virus to be discovered, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is still one of the most important animal diseases causing many economic losses. Many outbreaks of the disease have been occurred worldwide after introduction of new animals into the herd. Therefore, a high attention should be done during animal importation from areas in which the disease has been recorded. During this study, three groups of cattle were quarantined and examined for the presence of anti-3ABC antibody which indicates previous infection in order to evaluate the efficiency of the quarantine measures; applied during cattle importation; for detection of infected animals. Serum samples were collected and examined three times for both group (A) and (B), and four times for group (C) along a period of 34, 48 and 46 days respectively. Positive results obtained from all serum examinations except from the third serum examination of group (A). This study showed that one time examination of cattle for detection of FMD infection during 30 days quarantine period isn’t enough for detection of all infected animals, and clarified the crucial role of the quarantine period in detection of FMD infected animals that delay in the response to the infection.