Development of a mu3ABC-Based Lateral Flow Immunochromatographic Strip for Rapid DIVA-Compatible Detection of Antibodies Specific to Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most infectious viral diseases of coven-hoofed animals. The crucial strategy for FMD control is the combination of animal quarantine and rapid onsite diagnostic assay capable of differential infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA). Herein, we have developed a lateral flow immunoassay to detect specific antibodies against FMDV non-structural protein (NSP), based on recombinant mu3ABC produced by E. coli as an antibody detector, so called mu3ABC strip test. Performance of mu3ABC strip test was examined using 566 field serum samples from cattle, pigs, and goats and compared with the commercial ELISA kit, resulting in the diagnostic sensitivity (DSn) and specificity (DSp) of 88.18% and 92.56%, respectively. Additionally, efficacies of the mu3ABC strip test and commercial ELISA were determined using 200 reference bovine sera (100 positives, 100 negatives) classified by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Foot and Mouth Disease in South East Asia (RRL). The result reveals that DSn and DSp of mu3ABC strip test were 78% and of 91%, respectively while the commercial ELISA kit had DSn of 69%and DSp of 100%. The developed mu3ABC strip tests are effective and can be used to differentiate the infected animals in parallel with the sero-surveillance ELISA test.