Serological Profiling of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Nonstructural Protein Antibodies in Susceptible Wild or Captive Ruminants in India

There is dearth of surveillance reports elucidating the role of wild/captive ruminants in FMD epidemiology in India. The study was conducted on serum samples collected from wild/captive ruminants in India during 2015-2016. Serum samples from 20 spotted deer, 6 sambar deer, 6 thamin or brow-antlered deer, 3 hog deer, 1 barking deer, 3 bison, 1 gaur, 1 giraffe, 5 four-horned antelopes, 6 nilgai, 2 mithun or gayal, 28 blackbucks (Indian antelopes) and 1 white buck from various states were collected and subjected to competitive 3ABC nonstructural protein (NSP) ELISA using commercial kit PrioCHECK® FMDV NS to detect NSP-antibodies. Finally, 5 (25%) spotted deer, 1 (16.66%) sambar deer, 1 (33.33%) bison, 4 (80%) four-horned antelopes, 2 (33.33%) nilgai and 7 (25%) blackbucks were found positive for NSP-antibodies indicating their previous exposure to FMDV. The serum samples were subjected to in-house liquid phase blocking ELISA to assess the protective antibody against FMDV serotypes O, A and Asia 1, where none was found to have protective antibody (log10 titre of ≥1.8) against all three serotype strains in the vaccine. As FMD is highly infectious, necessary control measures including prophylactic vaccination should be put into practice in order to protect these rare wildlife species in the country.