Objective: To assess whether foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV)-specific sequences could be identified in tissues from persistently virus-infected animals.
Design: Cattle with experimentally induced persistent FMDV infections were slaughtered at 750 days after viral exposure. Experimentally infected pigs were slaughtered at 28 days after FMDV inoculation. Postmortem specimens were asceptically removed.
Animals: Three bovids and 3 pigs were studied, as well as 1 control animal for each species.
Procedure: Various tissues were examined for the presence of FMDV-specific sequences by dot-blot hybridization assay, using a molecularly cloned FMDV cDNA corresponding to the polymerase coding region.
Results: The FMDV-specific genomic sequences were only detected in RNA from spleen, lung, larynx, tonsils, pancreas, liver, esophagus, and WBC of bovids.
Conclusions: It was established that, at late stages of the persistent infection, when virus isolation was not possible, cattle may carry FMDV-specific sequences in different tissues. Retention of viral sequences could not be demonstrated in specimens from experimentally infected swine, 28 days after viral inoculation.