Rabies is a fatal zoonotic infection caused by negative-strand RNA-virus classified in the genus Lyssavirus,
family Rhabdoviridae of the order Mononegavirales. Despite the importance of the RABV for human and animal health,
little is known about the spread of the virus in different animal populations in Egypt. Therefore, the current study
aimed to identify and analyze the nucleotide sequences of nucleoprotein (N), phosphoprotein (P) and Glycoprotein
(G) genes of the rabies virus from 10 suspected rabid cases of cattle and foxes from Elwadi- Elgedid province, which
collected in 2017-2019. Specimens from the brains of suspected animals with rabies were collected and identified
using direct FAT and RT-PCR. Three positive samples were further subjected to sequencing the partially amplified N,
P, and G genes. The phylogenetic analysis was performed concerning the Egyptian rabies virus isolates, vaccinal strains
and other sequences from the neighbouring countries available on the GenBank. It was found that the nucleotide
identity in comparison to our new Egyptian isolates of Elwadi- Elgedid decreases by time at the level of three genes
of previously isolated strains. Our results revealed that these new RABV isolates were more homologous to each
other and were genetically related to Egyptian dog rabies, which previously identified two decades ago. The studied
vaccinal strains were of low nucleotide identity with the new isolates. They also share some similarities with the RABV
isolates in the neighbouring endemic regions in the Middle East. Furthermore, these data extend our knowledge of the
relatedness and genetic variation of RABVs circulating in Egypt. |
