Considering rapid accurate detection of FMD virus antigens and antibodies is an essential corner stone
in the epidemiological studies; Staphylococcal protein-A (SPA) was successfully prepared and used for
application of rapid agglutination test (RAT) on both of processed infected tongue epithelium and
infected cell culture fluid for detection of FMD virus antigens using reference viruses and anti-sera. It
was found that the traditional virus neutralization test (VNT) consuming long time (18-24 hours) and
RAT with the shortest time (2-5 minutes) were able to detect the antigens of FMDV type O; A and SAT2
with titer ranged from ≤ log10 up to 7log10 TCID₅₀/ml. In addition, RAT carried on serum samples
obtained from vaccinated animals revealed positive results with titers similar to those obtained by serum
neutralization test (SNT) ranged from ≤ 2 up to 256 for the three virus types with shorter time (2-5
minutes) than that consumed by SNT (18-24 hours). It was noticed that high antigen or antibody titers
showed strong agglutination while weak agglutination was noticed with lower titers. So it could be
concluded that the present work provides a rapid; sensitive and accurate test to detect FMDV antigens
and antibodies as safe; easy to be used, highly sensitive, rapid field test, of low cost and having friendly
environmental relationship.