ISOLATION AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF LUMPY SKIN DISEASE VIRUS IN EGYPT DURING 2017- 2018

Ahmed Hodhod, Emad Elgendy, Mervat I. Abd El-Moniem and Madiha S. Ibrahim*

ABSTRACT

Lumpy skin disease is not associated with high mortalities, but the economic losses accompanying its eruption are higher in cattle trade. Lumpy skin disease virus is a member of genus Capripoxvirus (CaPV), family Poxviridae and is the cause of lumpy skin disease. In our study, we isolated and molecularly characterized Lumpy skin disease virus circulating in Egypt from April 2017 to September 2018. A total number of 295 samples including skin biopsies (243), whole blood samples (50) and tick groups (2) were tested by real-time PCR. The results showed that 91.3%, 76% and 100% of skin biopsies, whole blood and tick samples were positive, respectively. Thirty positive samples were isolated on embryonated chicken eggs chorioallantoic membranes. The results showed that 24 samples (80%) displayed characteristic pock lesions. The results were confirmed by conventional PCR and all 24 samples were confirmed as lumpy skin disease virus. Two samples were sequenced and phylogenetic analysis showed high similarity between the isolated lumpy skin disease virus and sheep and goat poxviruses. Furthermore, the tick samples and skin biopsies showed higher viral titration indicating their usefulness for viral detection in suspected cases. Moreover, the real-time PCR is one of the rapid diagnostic tools that can be used for viral detection in endemic areas with high specificity and sensitivity compared to other routinely used tools.

Keywords: Lumpy skin disease virus, real-time PCR, Isolation, CAM, conventional PCR, Sequencing.