www.ejpmr.com Ibrahim et al. European Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Research 96 ISOLATION AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF LUMPY SKIN DISEASE VIRUS IN EGYPT DURING 2017- 2018 Ahmed Hodhod 1 , Emad Elgendy 2 , Mervat I. Abd El-Moniem 3 and Madiha S. Ibrahim 2 * 1 Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Virology Department, Damanhour, Egypt. 2 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Egypt. 3 Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Virology Department, Dokki, Egypt. Article Received on 30/10/2019 Article Revised on 20/11/2019 Article Accepted on 10/12/2019 INTRODUCTION Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is one of the most serious poxvirus diseases of livestock with high morbidity (up to 90%) and low mortality (less than 10% and in some outbreaks 20-75%). [1,2] The economic losses of LSD come from decreased milk production and severe skin damage. [3] The disease also causes a temporary or permanent infertility in bulls and death due to secondary bacterial infections. [4] Lumpy skin disease is a pox disease of cattle characterized by fever, nodules on the skin, mucous membranes and internal organs, emaciation, enlarged lymph nodes, edema of the skin and sometimes death. [4] LSD was detected for the first time in Zambia in 1929 and was termed pseudo-urticaria. [5] LSD is caused by Neethling virus, which is the prototype strain of LSD. [6] LSD virus (LSDV) together with sheep pox and goat pox viruses form the genus Capripoxvirus within the subfamily Chordopoxvirinae of the family Poxviridae. [7] LSDV cannot be distinguished from sheep and goat pox by neutralization test or other serological tests. [8] It had been documented that LSDV strains have sequence homology more than 98% with Kenyan strain (O 240/KSGP) of sheep and goat poxvirus (SGPV). [9] The virus spread from Zambia to Botswana in 1943. [10] In 1957, it appeared in Kenya, associated with an outbreak of sheep pox. [11] The first appearance of LSD outside Africa was reported in Kuwait in 1986. [12] After that the disease appeared in the United Arab Emirates and Republic of Yemen. [13] LSDV infection had been reported in Saudi Arabia in 1992 [14] and then in 2015 and 2016. [15] The disease was reported in Israel, Bahrain, Oman and the West Bank. [16,17] Subsequently, the disease appeared in Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Greece and Armenia in 2014 and 2015. [18,19] In Egypt, LSDV was isolated for the first time from cattle in 1988 during two disease outbreaks in Suez and Ismailia governorates. [20] Later on, LSD had been recorded in different Egyptian governorates like Banisuef, Beheira, Ismailia and New Valley in 2006. [21] LSDV infection was detected in both cattle and water buffaloes in Kalubiya governorate where the prevalence rate and clinical signs were less in buffaloes than in cattle. [22] The disease was associated with high prevalence of insect vectors which facilitate the transmission of LSDV. Animals are mostly exposed to insect vectors due to the unregulated breeding system and poor animal husbandry in farms. [23] SJIF Impact Factor 6.222 Research Article ISSN 2394-3211 EJPMR EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICAL RESEARCH www.ejpmr.com ejpmr, 2020,7(1), 96-103 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. *Corresponding Author: Madiha S. Ibrahim Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Egypt.