Spontaneous mutations are a common characteristic of the foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV), leading to wide antigenic variations resulting in the emergence of new topotypes and lineages of FMDV, which contributes to occasional vaccination failures. The objectives of the present study were to genetically characterize FMDV isolated from water buffaloes and study the biochemical and histopathological indicators of infected animals. Fifty-four water buffaloes of both sexes and different ages suffered from acute symptoms of FMD were clinically examined and randomly selected for inclusion in this study. Oral desquamated epithelial and oropharyngeal fluid samples have been tested for FMDV by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). Tissue and serum samples were also collected from the diseased buffaloes and subjected to histopathological and biochemical analysis. Our findings showed that all examined samples were confirmed to be positive to FMDV serotype SAT-2 and were adjusted to be responsible for the recent disease outbreak in this study. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the circulating viruses were of the SAT-2 serotype, closely related to the lineage of lib12, topotype VII, with 98.9% identity. The new lineage of SAT-2 showed a high virulence resulting in the deaths of water buffaloes due to heart failure, confirmed by high serum levels of inflammatory and cardiac markers, including haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin, cardiac troponin I and creatine phosphokinase-MB, indicating an unfavorable FMD-infection prognosis. In conclusion, we document the presence of new incursions circulating in water buffalo populations in Egypt in early 2019, explaining the high morbidity rate of FMD outbreak in early 2019. Furthermore, the newly identified serotype SAT-2 lib12 lineage, topotype VII, showed an aggressive pattern in water buffaloes of the smallholder production system.

Background: Small ruminants have a socioeconomic impact on Egypt's production of meat, milk and wool. Hence, every effort should be taken to prevent infections. Aim: To elucidate the prevalence and serogrouping of Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains from diarrheic lambs and kids, determine their antibiotic susceptibility and associated risk factors affecting the occurrence of the disease and establish the most common virulence genes marker and major antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. Methods: A total of 150 diarrheic animals (95 lambs and 55 kids) at different age and seasons were subjected to clinical examination. Rectal swabs were collected from 150 diarrheic animals for isolation and biochemical identification of E. coli. Results: The bacteriological examination revealed that 62/95 lambs and 26/55 kids with percentages of 65 % and 47 %, respectively showed infection with E. coli. Serotyping of 88 isolates of E. coli revealed the strains belonging to O2(8), O55(17), O84(5), O17(4), O6(8), O91(17), O26(9), O103(5), O126(5) and O124(6), O159(4). A total of 21 isolates were examined by multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay for detection of virulence and resistance genes. All examined isolates possessed a combination between intimin gene (eaeA) and heat stable toxin (STa) (100%), the serine protease (pic) gene on 8/21 isolates of O55, O2, O6 (38%) and α-hemolysin (hlyA) gene on 8/21 isolates of O26, O91(38%) while adherent invasive gene (invA) gene on 3/21 isolates of O124, O159 (14%) which divided diarrheagenic E. coli into four types assigned to be atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC) (48%), atypical enterohemorrhagic E. coli (aEHEC) (35%), atypical enterotoxigenic E. coli (aETEC) (6%) and atypical enteroinvasive E. coli (aEIEC) (11%). On other hand, the results of antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) revealed high resistance to ampicillin, erythromycin and tetracycline (100%) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (92%) but were highly sensitive to gentamicin, imipenem, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol and amikacin (100%). Concerning to ß lactams antibiotic resistance genes of examined isolates had blaSHV (100%) and BlaCTX-M (43%). For tetracycline, we detected the tetA in all examined isolates. Conclusion: The wide spread of atypical E. coli strains among diarrheic lambs and kids with marked resistance to several antibiotic of interest and detection of major resistance genes assess the potential risk of this pathogen to animal and public health.

Dermatophytosis is a fungal disease that affects the superficial skin layers and hair of farm animals all over the world including Egypt. Despite being a self-limiting disease, it has serious effects on public health and devastating economic losses due to its serious skin damage, a long course of treatment, and loss of weight. This study determines the most prevalent species of dermatophyte in sheep and identifies the incriminated species by both microscopic and culture methods with an assessment of animal and environmental risk factors. Moreover, it evaluates the effectiveness of three antifungal compounds (tioconazole cream and clotrimazole spray, and fluconazole capsule), on twenty-four naturally infected sheep. One hundred and three sheep from Sharkia and Dakahalia governorates were examined with clinically suggestive lesions from 2018 to 2019. 47.6% of the cases were positive for the dermatophyte infection either by clinical signs, microscopic or culture, or both. The highest registered infection rate is in males, at the age of ˂ 6 months, and in the winter season. Three antifungal medications are used for the first time in the treatment of ovine dermatophytosis. They are proved to have been effective in subsiding skin lesions with hair growth to return to its normal clinical state with a 100% curative rate. The treatment with preferable and easily applicable topical cures, especially tioconazole cream, is highly effective in the short run. This cream treatment is easily applicable and provides a good alternative to the traditional antifungal medication for sheep. Consequently, such treatment can reduce the possibility of spreading the infection by other animals, and may allow the adaption of efficient control measures.

The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) among cattle in Sharkia Governate, Egypt and to determine the efficacy of allicin as a treatment for GIN infection. Fecal samples (n = 113) were collected randomly from cattle at different localities in Sharkia Governate between September 2016 and August 2018. Samples were then examined parasitologically. Overall, GIN were found in 21 (18.6%) of the samples, the highest GIN prevalence was observed in winter (25.6%), while the lowest prevalence was in summer (10.3%). Adult cattle (42.9%) showed higher GIN infection than young calves (23.8%). Further, most of the infected cattle (92.4%) showed a light intensity of infection with GIN. The coproculture of infected fecal samples reveled that, 15 (71.4%) samples have single infection and 6 (28.6%) samples have mixed infection and Trichostrongylus spp. (41.9%) were the most frequently observed GIN, followed by Strongyloides spp. (35.2%), whereas, Cooperia spp. (8.7%) was the less frequently observed GIN. No significant difference (P = 0.78) was observed between using albendazole and allicin for treatment of GIN in cattle. The current study provides new and updated results that may help in the effort to control GIN. Also, this study shows that allicin could be used for treatment and control of GIN in cattle. However, further investigations in the efficacy of allicin in treatment of GIN in cattle and actual dose, are warranted.

Maternal immunity in lambs and kids born from vaccinated dams with peste des petits ruminant (PPR) live attenuated cell culture vaccine was evaluated by using competitive ELISA (c-ELISA). Serum samples were collected from each dam prior to the vaccination to detect the titre of antibody against the infection with PPRV and from lambs and kids on the day of birth, then every 15 days until reach 4.5 months of age to determine the level of maternal antibodies against PPR virus transferred from vaccinated dams to their newly born lambs and kids. Results showed that the antibody titer averages in lambs and kids reach the maximum at one month of age (OD average below 20) then, declined gradually at 105 days in which 80 % of kids still have OD average below 50while 40% of lambs are still protected. So, we recommended the application of vaccine to newly born lambs and kids from immunized dams at 3 months of age by live attenuated PPR vaccine strain Egypt/87 grown on the Vero cell culture.