Molecular phylogenetics of a recently isolated goat pox virus from Vietnam

Background After a decade of silence, an outbreak of the contagious and Asian endemic disease, goat pox re-emerged in North Vietnam affecting more than 1800 heads with a mortality rate of 6.5%. The inevitable impact of goat pox on hide quality, breeding, chevon and milk production has resulted in a significant economic losses to the developing goat industry of Vietnam. In the act of establishing an effective control of this devastating disease, tracing the source of re-emergence via a phylogenetic study was carried out to reveal their genetic relatedness. Either skin scab or papule from the six affected provinces were collected, cultured into Vero cells followed by restricted enzyme digestion of targeted P32 gene DNA encoding. The P32 gene was then cloned and transformed into E.coli competent cells for further sequencing. Results The isolated sequence is deposited into GenBank under Accession No. MN317561/VNUAGTP1. The phylogenetic tree revealed high similarity of nucleotide and amino acid sequences to references goat pox strains accounting for 99.6 and 99.3, respectively. The Vietnamese strain is clustered together with currently circulating goat pox virus in China, India and Pakistan which suggested the origin of South China. Conclusions This Vietnam isolate is clustered together with other Asian goat pox strains indicating the dissemination of a common goat pox virus within this continent.

Prevalence and PCR based molecular characterization of goat pox virus from field outbreaks of Multan and Bahawalnagar, Pakistan

This study was designed to check the prevalence and PCR-based molecular characterization of goat pox virus (GTPV) in the Multan and Bahwalnagar regions of Punjab, Pakistan. Capripox virus (CPPV) is the cause of goat pox (GTP) and sheep pox (SPP) disease, it highly affects the morbidity and mortality rate of goats and sheep. In this study, the 80 tissues and blood samples of goats were collected on age basis from the goat farms, slaughter houses, tanneries and domestic animals. The epidemiological data was also collected. The collected samples were processed for DNA extraction. We characterized the goat pox virus (GTPV) with specific primers of P32 gene by PCR. Then each amplified product was analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis visualized by UV fluorescence light. This study showed that Infants of goats (2-10 months) in Multan showed 25% while adult goat in Multan showed 14.2 % positive results. In Bahawlnagar, the affected infants of goats (2-10 months) found were 31.25% while adult infected goats were 11.1%. Both primers were equally effective for the characterization of unknown samples. The most effected goats were adult female and infants. J. bio-sci. 28: 95-103, 2020

TESTING SHEEP AND GOAT POX VIRUSES FOR THEIR REPRODUCTION IN PRIMARY AND SUBCULTURED CELLS

Results of tests of sheep and goat poxviruses for their reproduction in primary and subcultured cell cultures derived from lamb and goat kid kidneys and testicles are presented. Monolayer cultures were subcultured by 5 passages in plastic vials and infected with sheep and goat poxviruses. It was shown that production ARRIAH strain of sheep pox virus and ARRIAH 2003 strain of goat pox virus successfully propagated both in primary lamb and goat kid kidney and testicle cell cultures and lamb and goat kid kidney and testicle cell subcultures. Activity of sheep and goat poxviruses passaged 5 times was 5.5–6.0 lg TCID50/cm3. Taking into account that modern cell cultivation conditions allow primary trypsinized cell populations subcultivation up to 25–30th passage, subcultures together with continuous cell lines can be used for large-scale sheep and goat poxvirus production and research purposes.

ANTIGENIC AND PROTECTIVE PROPERTIES OF EXPERIMENTAL ASSOCIATED VIRUS VACCINE AGAINST SHEEP POX AND GOAT POX

Studies have been carried on antigenic and protective activity of the experimental associated vaccine containing, in the field vaccination dose, antigens of the attenuated ARRIAH strain of the sheep pox virus and ARRIAH 2003 strain of the goat pox virus in the ratio of 4.24 and 4.24 lg TCD50/cm3, 4.18 and 4.37 lg TCD50/cm3and 4.37 and 4.18 lg TCD50/cm3respectively, as well as monovalent vaccines with the infectious activity of these strains with a titer of 4.5 lg TCD50/cm3. Administration of the associated virus vaccine did not adversely affect the physiological state of the animals and was accompanied by the formation of viral neutralizing antibodies in protective titres that did not differ from antibody titers in the blood of sheep and goats during monovalent immunization. High levels of virus neutralizing antibodies in the range of (3.50 ± 0.50)–(4.05 ± 0.22) and (3.58 ± 0.08)–(4.00 ± 0.29) log2respectively were determined in the blood serum of all sheep and goats vaccinated with associated vaccines. The antigenic activity of the associated vaccines for goats and sheep is almost identical. There were no negative effects on the antigenic activity of different ratios of attenuated strains of the sheep pox and goat pox virus in the inoculation dose. All sheep immunized with the monovalent vaccine against sheep and goat pox and associated virus vaccines, resisted the disease when challenged with a virulent sheep pox virus “Afghanistan” strain. Three sheep vaccinated with a monovalent vaccine against goat pox demonstrated a large local reaction, one sheep was diagnosed with generalized form of sheep pox.