Virus persistence and antibodies of Foot and Mouth Disease in dairy cattle in Boyolali District, Central Java

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a contagious disease of ruminants that causes significant eco-nomic losses for livestock farmers. It is caused by viruses from the Picornaviridae family, order Picornavirales, and the Aphthovirus genus. The FMD virus and the antibodies produced can be detected using laboratory tests. This research aims to conduct molecular testing on cattle suspected of FMD infection, detect post-infection virus shedding and antibodies. A total of forty dairy cows that had not been vaccinated against FMD from the smallholder farmers in Jemowo village, Banyusri, Taman Sari subdistrict, Boyolali district were used in this research. Detection of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) was carried out by real time Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) using oropharyngeal fluid (OPF) samples taken using a probang cup. Testing for non-structural protein (NSP) and structural protein (SP) serotype O antibodies by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was performed on serum samples collected from the jugular vein. Detection of FMD virus RNA, NSP and SP antibodies was carried out twice each, namely 1 month and 6 months after FMD infection. The results showed that FMD virus RNA was detected 1 month and 6 months after infection of 39/40 (97.5%) and 3/40 (7.5%) respectively. The NSP test results at 1 month and 6 months post-infection were 37/40 (92.5%) and 35/40 (87.5%), and the SP results were 36/40 (90%) and 40/40 (100%). This research concluded that the cows were infected with FMD serotype O. The persistence of the FMD virus six months after outbreak was 7.5%, the persistence of NSP and SP antibodies was 87.5% and 100% respectively.