The accurate diagnosis of infection with FMDV is of prime most importance for both control and eradication campaigns in FMD endemic areas and as a supportive measure to the stamping out policy in FMD-free areas [96] . The history of research and diagnosis in foot-and-mouth disease falls into several distinct areas. The search for experimental laboratory animals, producing the disease culminated in the demonstration by Waldmann and Pape [97] , the susceptibility of the guinea pig, and the suckling mouse by Skinner in 1951. Early work by Hecke and the Maitlands in the early 1930s, followed by the crucial demonstration by Frenkel in 1947 that large amounts of the virus could be produced in surviving tongue epithelium, formed the basis for the vaccination programmes initiated in Europe in the 1950s [98] . The subsequent development of cell lines has brought a remarkable degree of sophistication to the study of virus growth. The recognition of more than one serotype has led to the development of various techniques for serotyping of the virus. As early as 1927, Bedson et al. found that two isolates of a serotype "A" virus could be differentiated by cross-neutralization tests [99] . Earlier typing of FMDV was done by cross-immunity test in guinea pigs [11] and less frequently in cattle [13] . As this test was time consuming, expensive, and imprecise [100] , different serological tests like complement fixation test (CFT), virus neutralization test (VNT), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were developed and the most recent is the development of molecular techniques, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method making diagnosis more rapid and precise. Presently we have demonstrated that multiplex PCR could detect FMD virus in the highest number of samples (65.47%) followed by sandwich ELISA (53.57%) and virus isolation (42.85%) [101] .