Circulating foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype A African-genotype IV in Egypt during 2022.

Background and Aim: Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus causes continuous outbreaks, leading to serious economic consequences that affect animal productivity and restrict trade movement. The potential influence of the disease was due to the emergence of new strains or re-emergence of local strains with major antigenic variations due to genetic mutations. This study aims to evaluate circulating virus in samples collected from infected animals during an outbreak using antigenic characterization and identify whether there is an emergence of a new strain or mutation. Materials and Methods: Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to screen 86 samples. Viral protein 1 (VP1) codon sequencing was performed. The virus was isolated from the samples inoculated on the baby-hamster kidney cell line and Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed for serotyping and antigen detection. Results: Based on the RT-PCR screening results, 10 positive samples were selected for sequencing. The sequences belonged to the FMD serotype A African topotype originating from the ancestor prototype Sudan/77, with which it shared 98.48% ± 1.2% similarity. The divergence with local isolates from 2020 was 9.3%. In addition, the sequences were 96.84% ± 1.01% and 95.84% ± 0.79% related to Egyptian-Damietta type 2016 and Sudanese-2018, respectively. Divergence with vaccinal strains ranged from 10% to 17%. Amino acid sequence analysis revealed that the isolates had variation in the most prominent antigenic regions (residues 35-75) and the immunogenic determinants of the G-H loop of VP1 (residues 100-146 and 161-175). Conclusion: The current isolates should be included in the locally produced vaccine to provide broader immunogenic coverage against serotype A African topotypes.

Molecular detection and phylogenetic analysis of newly emerging foot-and-mouth disease virus type A, Lineage EURO-SA in Egypt in 2022.

A newly emerging and exotic foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) caused a recent outbreak of serotype A in Egypt in 2022, which affected cattle and water buffalo. Previous phylogenetic studies on FMDV circulating in Egypt have mainly focused on genomic regions encoding the structural proteins which determine FMDV serotype. No study has yet determined structural proteins sequences of the newly emerging Europe-South America (EURO-SA) lineage which was recently isolated from Egypt during a routine surveillance in 2022. The objective of the current study was to analyze the structural proteins of the Venezuelan type which belongs to EURO-SA. The new isolate was related to serotype A lineage Euro-South America. Phylogentic analyses have reveled that the newly isolated lineage samples were closely related to reported sequences that have been identified in Venzuela and Colombia. Analysis of structural protein sequences revealed the recent isolates belong to prototype strain A24 Cruzeiro. Notably, nucleotide sequences of the Egyptian isolate was related to Venezuelan, Brazilian, and Colombian strains with identity not exceeding 90%. The divergence which appears in the genetic identity of the Egyptian A/EURO-SA lineage from other related strains may be attributed to the absence of Euro-SA lineage sequence from Egypt. The present study is the first report on the detection of EURO-SA lineage in Egypt. The recent detection of the EURO-SA lineage samples may be explained due to imported animals from Colombia or Brazil which share geographical borders with Venezuela. The findings of the present study highlight the significance of continuous monitoring of FMDV in Egypt for newly emerging FMDVs.

Molecular detection, phylogenetic analysis and genetic diversity of recently isolated foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype A African topotype, Genotype IV.

BACKGROUND: Surveillance for circulating emerging diseases of economic importance has a major role in the rapid response to major pathogen outbreaks. Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is one of the significant endemic viruses in Egypt. FMDV is periodically investigated for monitoring evolution and emergence of new variants. The genetic characterization of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus serotype A responsible for recent outbreaks of FMD in Egypt was determined. METHODS: Samples were collected from different locations and virus isolation was performed using BHK-21 cells. Viral RNA was extracted and samples were screened for FMDV using real-time RT-PCR. DNA sequence analysis was performed and computational and bioinformatics analyses were used to determine the substitution rates and phylogenetic relationship. RESULTS: Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of full-length 1D region of FMDV samples collected from different governorates in 2020 showed close similarity to Egyptian FMDV strains from serotype A-African topotype-G-IV with genetic variation of 6.5%. Recently isolated FMDV strains showed high genetic variations from locally used vaccine strains in the major antigenic sites of VP1 region. CONCLUSIONS: Although, efforts made by the veterinary authorities to implement an effective mass vaccination plan, the recently detected FMDV strains in this study could not be subtyped using the FMDV primers routinely used for molecular serotyping. These dissimilarities raise the alarm for reconsideration of the FMDV isolates used in vaccine manufacture. Clearly close monitoring of FMD in Egypt is urgently required to define the risks of future outbreaks and to ensure appropriate control measures against FMD major outbreaks.

Colorimetric Detection of Unamplified Rift Valley Fever Virus Genetic Material Using Unmodified Gold Nanoparticles.

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is considered an enzootic virus in Africa. RVFV has caused several outbreaks in Egypt, sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and is responsible for high mortality in ruminants and haemorrhagic fever in severe human cases. Although there are several molecular and serological diagnostic techniques used to detect this arthropod-borne virus with high sensitivity and efficiency, there is a need for a fast and reliable field screening test for rapid outbreak recording and containment. In this study, we developed a prototype point-of-care diagnostic test specific for RVFV detection using unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that change colour in the presence of RVFV RNA, resulting in a simple but sensitive assay. The nanogold assay provides qualitative results showing the presence of the RVFV RNA in different sample types. The assay showed high accuracy and specificity, with a detection limit of 10 RNA copies/reaction, comparable with quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The assay result could be determined within 30 min with no need for specific detection instruments. To our knowledge, this is the first field test prototype to directly detect the RNA of RVFV without amplification using AuNPs.