Some Egyptian governorates suffered from LSDV infection among cattle during May -2015 with significant economic losses in cattle production. This work was planned to isolate and identify LSDV from suspected cattle from Ismailia, Minufia and El-Fayoum governorates. Direct detection of LSDV antigen in skin nodules homogenates using AGPT showed positive results with 10 out of 15 suspected cattle samples. Virus propagation in SPF-ECE and MDBK cell line gave positive results in 6 of the 10 samples positive for AGPT that were identified by VNT and FAT using LSDV specific antiserum. Propagated LSDV showed that 3 successive passages on the CAM of ECE induced thickness of the CAM with the presence of yellowish white pocks with gradual increase in the virus titer from 2 log10 EID50 /ml by the 1st passage to 4 log10 EID50 /ml by the 3rd passage. Six serial passages of the samples in MDBK cell line showed CPE by the 5th, 4th and 3rd day post cell infection by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd passage respectively with gradual increase of the virus titer from 2.5 to 5.5 log10 TCID50 by the 1st and 6th passage respectively. The obtained results reflected the circulation of LSDV in Ismailia, Minufia and El-Fayoum governorates which could be detected using AGPT, VNT and FAT. These findings provided also data on propagation characters of LSDV isolates from Egypt in SPF-ECE and MDBK cell line important for virus isolation |
