A survey on carrier state with foot-and-mouth disease virus in buffalos slaughtered in Ahvaz abattoir

Foot and mouth disease is one of the most important contagious diseases of cloven hoofed animals that may cause sever economic impacts. One of the important aspects of FMD is persistent infection that may occur after recovery from clinical form of disease orfollowing exposure of vaccinated ruminants with live virus. In order to evaluate prevalence of persistent infection with FMD virus in buffalos, this study was conducted on 100 mature female buffalos slaughtered in Ahvaz abattoir in south-west of Iran. Samples were collected frompharyngeal secretions and dorsal soft palate tissue and tested by RT-PCR method. The results of this study showed 2 positive samples out of 100 collected samples which is the first report in Iran. Since buffalos are in close contact with other sensitive animals such as cattle and sheep, they may be a great hazardous to the spread disease in the region.