Animal and Veterinary Sciences

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Molecular Characterization of Rabies Virus from Foxes in the Sultanate of Oman

Received: 10 February 2018    Accepted: 09 March 2018    Published: 08 May 2018
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Abstract

Rabies was firstly recorded in Oman in August 1990, when a school boy had been bitten by a fox. Within a year, then the virus was recorded among red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Unlike other developing countries, dog is not the usual agent of rabies transmission in Oman but fox considered the main reservoir (sylvatic transmission). The present study was Carried out to determine the molecular epidemiology of fox rabies virus in Oman. The nucleoprotein (N) genes were amplified from brain of three rabid foxes obtained during (2009-2012). The nucleotide sequences of the genes were subjected to molecular and phylogenic analysis. The phylogenic analysis was performed in relation to Omani foxes isolates and other sequences from the Saudi Arabia (isolated in 1987) available in the GenBank. Results indicated that only one genetic group of fox rabies virus appeared to be circulating in Oman since 1990. The study also showed that the recent isolate (2012) of Omani rabies virus from foxes is closely related (97%) to those viruses isolated from foxes in Saudi Arabia. According to the obtained results, It is clear that since its first diagnosis in 1990 the rabies fox virus has not gone through significant virus variant in Oman, It seems that rabies is maintained endemically in Oman through wild foxes. In conclusion the findings reported here highlight the remarkable genetic stability of rabies virus.

DOI 10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14
Published in Animal and Veterinary Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2018)
Page(s) 17-20
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Rabies Virus, Fox, Genetic, Gen Bank, Oman

References
[1] ALismaaily, S. I., Tageldin, M. H., Body, M. H., and AL Habsy, S. (2002). retrospective studies of rabies in the Sultanate of Oman 1990-2000. Agric. Fish. Res. Bull. 2:25-28.
[2] Anonymous (1992). Wijdlife rabies in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Epidemiol. rec. 67:65-72.
[3] Arai, Y. T., Takahashi, H., Kameoka, Y., Shiino, T., Wimalaratne, O. and Lodmell, D. L. (2001). Characterization of Sri Lanka rabies virus isolates using nucleotide sequence analysis of nucleoprotein gene. Acta Virol. 45:327-333.
[4] Ata, F. A, Tageldin, M. H, Alsumry, H. S. and Alismaily, S. I. (1993). Rabies in the Sultanate of Oman. Vet Rec. 132:68-69.
[5] Batista, H. B., Mariano, P. C., Fernandes, M. E., Oliveira, R. N., Kawai, J. G., Carnieli,. J. r., and Roehe, P. M., (2015). Antigenic and Genetic Stability of Rabies Virus. Donnish Journal of General and Molecular Virology. 1:001-004.
[6] Body, M., ALrawhi, A., Hussain, M., Al Habsi, S., Awlad Wadir, A., Nirmala, S., Mohamed, S. A and Rajamony, S. (2014). Study on molecular characterization of rabies virus N gene segment from different animal species in the Sultanate of Oman. Journal of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health 16(12):295-301.
[7] Boury, H., B. Kissi, N., Tordo, H., Badrane, H. and sacramento, D. (1995). Molecular epidemiology tools and phylogenetic analysis of bacteria and viruses with special emphasis on lyssaviruses. Prev. Vet. Med. 25:164-181.
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[9] Gunawardena, P. S., Marston, D. A., Ellis, R. J., Wise, E. L., Karawita, A. C., et al. (2016). Lyssavirus in Indian Flying Foxes, Sri Lanka. Emerg Infect Dis. 22:1456-1459.
[10] Hayman, D. T., Fooks, A. R., Marston, D. A. and Garcia, R. J. (2016). The Global Phylogeography of Lyssaviruses Challenging the 'Out of Africa' Hypothesis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 10(12).
[11] Hussain, M. H., Ward, M. P., Body, M., AL-Rawahi, A., wadir, A. A., AL-Habsi, S., Saqib, M., Ahmed, M. S. and Almaawali, M. G. (2013). Spatio-temporal pattern of sylvatic rabies in the Sultanate of Oman, 2006-2010., Prev. Vet. Med. 110:281-9.
[12] Johnson, N., McElhinney, L. M., Smith, J., Lowings, P. and Fooks, A. R. (2002). phylogenetic comparison of the genus Lyssavirus using distal coding sequences of the glycoprotein and nucleoprotein genes. Arch. Virol. 147:2111-2 3.
[13] Kumar, S., Tamura, K., Jakobsen, I. B. and Nei, M. (2001). MEGA2; molecular evolutionary genetics analysis software. Bioinformatics 17:1244-1245.
[14] Ministry of Health. Sultanate of Oman (1998). Rabies in Oman. Community Health and Disease Surveillance Newsletter II: 1-9.
[15] Novelli, V. M. and Malankar. P. (1991). Epizootic of fox rabies in the Sultanate of oman. Trans. R. Trop. Med. Hyg. 85:543.
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Author Information
  • Animal Health Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

  • Animal Health Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman; Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt

  • Animal Health Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

  • Animal Health Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

  • Animal Health Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

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  • APA Style

    Mohammad Hassan Body, Mohamed Sayed Ahmed, Hatim Hassan Eltahir, Mahir Ghareeb ALmaewaly, Saif Alhabsi. (2018). Molecular Characterization of Rabies Virus from Foxes in the Sultanate of Oman. Animal and Veterinary Sciences, 6(1), 17-20. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14

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    ACS Style

    Mohammad Hassan Body; Mohamed Sayed Ahmed; Hatim Hassan Eltahir; Mahir Ghareeb ALmaewaly; Saif Alhabsi. Molecular Characterization of Rabies Virus from Foxes in the Sultanate of Oman. Anim. Vet. Sci. 2018, 6(1), 17-20. doi: 10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14

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    AMA Style

    Mohammad Hassan Body, Mohamed Sayed Ahmed, Hatim Hassan Eltahir, Mahir Ghareeb ALmaewaly, Saif Alhabsi. Molecular Characterization of Rabies Virus from Foxes in the Sultanate of Oman. Anim Vet Sci. 2018;6(1):17-20. doi: 10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14,
      author = {Mohammad Hassan Body and Mohamed Sayed Ahmed and Hatim Hassan Eltahir and Mahir Ghareeb ALmaewaly and Saif Alhabsi},
      title = {Molecular Characterization of Rabies Virus from Foxes in the Sultanate of Oman},
      journal = {Animal and Veterinary Sciences},
      volume = {6},
      number = {1},
      pages = {17-20},
      doi = {10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.avs.20180601.14},
      abstract = {Rabies was firstly recorded in Oman in August 1990, when a school boy had been bitten by a fox. Within a year, then the virus was recorded among red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Unlike other developing countries, dog is not the usual agent of rabies transmission in Oman but fox considered the main reservoir (sylvatic transmission). The present study was Carried out to determine the molecular epidemiology of fox rabies virus in Oman. The nucleoprotein (N) genes were amplified from brain of three rabid foxes obtained during (2009-2012). The nucleotide sequences of the genes were subjected to molecular and phylogenic analysis. The phylogenic analysis was performed in relation to Omani foxes isolates and other sequences from the Saudi Arabia (isolated in 1987) available in the GenBank. Results indicated that only one genetic group of fox rabies virus appeared to be circulating in Oman since 1990. The study also showed that the recent isolate (2012) of Omani rabies virus from foxes is closely related (97%) to those viruses isolated from foxes in Saudi Arabia. According to the obtained results, It is clear that since its first diagnosis in 1990 the rabies fox virus has not gone through significant virus variant in Oman, It seems that rabies is maintained endemically in Oman through wild foxes. In conclusion the findings reported here highlight the remarkable genetic stability of rabies virus.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Molecular Characterization of Rabies Virus from Foxes in the Sultanate of Oman
    AU  - Mohammad Hassan Body
    AU  - Mohamed Sayed Ahmed
    AU  - Hatim Hassan Eltahir
    AU  - Mahir Ghareeb ALmaewaly
    AU  - Saif Alhabsi
    Y1  - 2018/05/08
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14
    T2  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    JF  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    JO  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    SP  - 17
    EP  - 20
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5850
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20180601.14
    AB  - Rabies was firstly recorded in Oman in August 1990, when a school boy had been bitten by a fox. Within a year, then the virus was recorded among red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Unlike other developing countries, dog is not the usual agent of rabies transmission in Oman but fox considered the main reservoir (sylvatic transmission). The present study was Carried out to determine the molecular epidemiology of fox rabies virus in Oman. The nucleoprotein (N) genes were amplified from brain of three rabid foxes obtained during (2009-2012). The nucleotide sequences of the genes were subjected to molecular and phylogenic analysis. The phylogenic analysis was performed in relation to Omani foxes isolates and other sequences from the Saudi Arabia (isolated in 1987) available in the GenBank. Results indicated that only one genetic group of fox rabies virus appeared to be circulating in Oman since 1990. The study also showed that the recent isolate (2012) of Omani rabies virus from foxes is closely related (97%) to those viruses isolated from foxes in Saudi Arabia. According to the obtained results, It is clear that since its first diagnosis in 1990 the rabies fox virus has not gone through significant virus variant in Oman, It seems that rabies is maintained endemically in Oman through wild foxes. In conclusion the findings reported here highlight the remarkable genetic stability of rabies virus.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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