Molecular Characterization of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Collected from Al-Fayoum and Beni- Suef Governorates in Egypt

Abstract

2 Abstract: Foot-and-mouth Disease (FMD) is a serious contagious viral disease principally affecting cloven hoofed animals. Although serotypes A and O of Foot-and-mouth disease Virus (FMDV) has been continuously circulating in Egypt, during 2012, cases of FMD-SAT 2 have been reported in domesticated livestock. This study was conducted on cattle and sheep suspected of being infected with FMD raised in AL-Fayoum and Beni-Suef Governorates respectively. Samples from sheep were collected during FMD outbreak in 2012, while a spot infection of cattle occurred nine months later. Results of (IDEXX FMD 3ABC Bo-Ov) ELISA revealed infection with FMDV in 100% of tested animals. The objective of this study is to determine genetic characterization of isolated FMD serotypes. Epithelial specimens were collected and analyzed using universal primers to amplify the 5`untranslated region (UTR) by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and then O, A, C and SAT 2 primers for serotyping. RT-PCR and sequencing proved that cattle were infected with mixed infection of both types A and SAT 2, while sheep was infected with type SAT 2 only. Phylogenetic analysis of VP3 and VP1 to characterize biodiversity revealed close relation to previously recorded sequences in Egypt.