Question

You suspect fmd in a herd of beef cattle and have found just one animal with relatively fresh lesions and some small flaps of epithelium present, but are concerned that you might not be able to get a large sample. How much epithelium do you need to sample in order to have sufficient to send to the laboratory for virus isolation by cell culture

Answer 1

Vesicular epithelium is one the most suitable materials to test FMD.

At the least,  2 cm sq. of epithelium from freshly ruptured vesicles or from the vesicles which are not ruptured are required to conduct the test.

That could be the sample from more that 4 animals with obvious and early lesions.

Answer 2

Foot and mouth disease is very common in animals and there is a probability that the disease could spread.

To understand the intensity of the disease in this case taking sample of vesicular epithelium would help.

You can take 2 cm sq. of the epithelium from the freshly ruptured vesicles or else you can also take the sample from the non-rupture layer which needs to be tested.