title: Genetic analysis of type O viruses responsible for epidemics of foot-and-mouth disease in North Africa.
abstract: The nucleotide sequences of the 3' end of the capsid-coding region were determined for 30 serotype O foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) viruses isolated between 1987 and 1994 from outbreaks in North Africa and the Middle East. These sequences were compared with the previously published sequences of 9 field virus isolates from the Middle East and 5 vaccine virus strains, 3 of which originated from the Middle East (O1/Turkey/Manisa/69, O1/Sharquia/Egypt/72 and O1/Israel/2/85) and 2 from Europe (O1/Lausanne/Switzerland/65 and O2/Brescia/Italy/47). Cluster analysis of these sequences using the unweighted pair group mean average (UPGMA) method showed: (i) that the FMD viruses isolated from North Africa and the Middle East were very different from the classical European vaccine strains; (ii) that all the viruses isolated during the 1989-92 North African epidemic formed a cluster differing by no more than 6% from each other; (iii) a virus isolated in Libya in 1988 was unrelated to the aforementioned epidemic; and (iv) viruses from a second, less extensive epidemic, occurring in 1994, fell into yet another cluster.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Surrey, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Knowles
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Mackay
mesh_terms: D000352:Africa, Northern / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D005537:Aphthovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002020:Buffaloes; D002417:Cattle; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D005536:Foot-and-Mouth Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D006041:Goats; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry*; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral