Virological, serological and epizootiological investigations of sheep pox and goat pox diseases in northeast anatolian region, Turkey

Sheep and goat pox disease is viral disease of small ruminants which is characterised with outbreaks in wide gerographical region including Turkey.It is aimed to investigate sheep and goat pox disease in Northeast Anatolian region of Turkey by virological, serological and epizootiological methods. For this purpose, sheep pox virus (SPPV) and goatpox virus (GTPV) DNAs were detected by PCR in 168 clinical specimens taken from 53 animals in 11 disease outbreaks. Virus isolations were performed in Madin-darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cell culture for each outbreak. Beyond these, virus neutralisation titres of serum samples collected from 22 animals with clinical disease symptoms and 10 animals without any clinical sypmtoms from the outbreaks were determined. SPPV and GTPV differentiations were detected by PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing methods.Results of PCR analysis indicated that, sheep and goat pox virus DNAs were detected in 96,2 % (51/53), 76,9 % (40/52), 90,4 % (19/21), 42,8 % (9/21) and 61,9 % (13/21) of cutaneous, nasal and oral swap specimens, lung, liver tissue samples and lymph nodules respectively.Virus neutralisation titres were found below the accepted-protective levels in all animals with clinical disease symptoms and in four animals without clinical syptoms. In the other animals, virus neutralisation titres were found above the accepted-protective levels.All of the isolated virus samples from the outbreaks were determined as SPPV by PCR-RFLP method. This finding was further confirmed by sequence analysis of terminal region of the virus genome.In the light of the findings of the present study, it can be cocluded that sheep and goat pox disease cases occur seasonally, especially in young animals, in Northeast Anatolian region. More importantly, the viruses isolated within the study period had SPPV genome characteristics, as determined by PCR-RFLP and sequencing.