Quantitative single serum-dilution liquid phase competitive blocking ELISA for the assessment of herd immunity and expected protection against foot-and-mouth disease virus in vaccinated cattle

A single serum-dilution liquid phase ELISA (slpELISA) was standardized to be used for serological evaluation of herd immunity against foot-and-mouth disease. The absorbance value at a dilution 1:64 of each serum sample was interpolated in a standard curve by plotting the antibody titers of six control sera determined by end point dilution liquid phase ELISA (lpELISA), against the absorbance values for the same control sera at 1:64 dilutions. A straight line was obtained by linear regression analysis (r > 0.90) in the titer range of 1.40–2.40. The reliability of the antibody titers was confirmed by the simultaneous titration of 60 cattle sera by slpELISA and lpELISA, which showed an acceptable correlation (R2 > 0.87) for viral strains A24/Cruzeiro, A/Argentina/01, O1/Campos and C3/Indaial. Titers obtained by both methods were not significantly different (p > 0.05), thus confirming that slpELISA could be used successfully to replace the conventional serial dilution ELISA for the assessment of protection status of cattle in epidemiological studies. In addition, this quantitative slpELISA provides an adequate method for monitoring the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns and is also suitable for the assessment of seroconversion of naive animals during early stages of infection.