Sample Collection and Transportation
A total of all 384 whole blood samples each approximately amounting to 8-10ml was collected from jugular vein of cattle using disposable needles and 10 ml non-heparinized vacutainer tube and 21 Gauge needle. Following whole blood sample collection, vacutainer tubes were labeled and transported to laboratory and kept overnight at room temperature to allow the blood clot at slant position. Correspondingly, each sample was identified along with sex, age, herd size and district. Then, serum samples were transferred from vacutainer tubes to cryogenic vials and stored in -20°C refrigerator at Samara University veterinary medicine microbiology laboratory. Finally, the serum samples were transported in an ice box via air plane to the National Veterinary Institute (NVI), upon arrival; the sera was stored at −20°C until further processing took place and the samples were tested using the FMD non-structural protein ELISA to determine if animals in the herd had been recently infected with FMD virus thereby estimating the seroprevalence in the three selected districts of afar region.