Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
Zoonoses Public Health. 2024 Nov;71(7):836-843. doi: 10.1111/zph.13164. Epub 2024 Jun 21.
Rabies virus (RV) is endemic in some Arabian countries. However, it is difficult to control RV without understanding the epidemiological evolution of endemic RV isolates. The current study aimed to characterize RV from domestic and wild animal clinical cases in Oman.
Twelve brain samples from domestic (Five camels, three goats and one cattle) and wild animals (Two foxes and one honey badger) were investigated from different locations in Oman between 2017 and 2020. All samples were confirmed by RV nucleoprotein (N) gene-specific primers. Seven out of the 12 amplified samples were successfully sequenced and subjected to sequence and phylogenetic analysis. The detected RVs shared an in-between 96.8%-98.7% and 96.9%-99% nucleotide and amino acid identities, respectively. However, the wild animal RVs shared only 92.6%-93.9% and 95.9% nucleotide and amino acid identities with the domestic animal RVs, respectively. Negri bodies were detected histologically in six brain samples from camels (n = 3), goats (n = 1) and foxes (n = 2). The RVs from domestic animals shared 97%-98.7% and 98%-100% nucleotide and amino acid identities with the previously published fox RVs from Oman and Gulf countries. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that all RV sequences belong to a distinct clade confined to the previously reported clade V within the Middle Eastern Cluster.
As indicated by the analysis of RVs from different locations between 2017 and 2020, a genetic variant isolated to the Gulf region may exist within the Middle East clade. Moreover, it appears that new RV lineages are emerging rapidly within this region. Therefore, a comprehensive genomic and phylogenetic analysis of the circulating RV is important for the development of future prevention and control strategies.
狂犬病病毒（RV）在一些阿拉伯国家流行。然而，如果不了解地方性 RV 分离株的流行病学演变，就很难控制 RV。本研究旨在对阿曼国内和野生动物临床病例中的 RV 进行特征描述。
2017 年至 2020 年期间，在阿曼不同地点从 12 只来自国内（5 只骆驼、3 只山羊和 1 只牛）和野生动物（2 只狐狸和 1 只蜜獾）的脑组织样本中检测到 RV。所有样本均通过 RV 核蛋白（N）基因特异性引物确认。在 12 个扩增样本中，有 7 个成功测序并进行了序列和系统发育分析。检测到的 RV 在核苷酸和氨基酸水平上的同源性分别为 96.8%-98.7%和 96.9%-99%。然而，野生动物 RV 与国内动物 RV 的核苷酸和氨基酸同源性分别仅为 92.6%-93.9%和 95.9%。在 6 只来自骆驼（n=3）、山羊（n=1）和狐狸（n=2）的脑组织样本中组织学检测到 Negri 小体。来自国内动物的 RV 在核苷酸和氨基酸水平上与之前在阿曼和海湾国家报道的狐狸 RV 分别共享 97%-98.7%和 98%-100%的同源性。系统发育分析表明，所有 RV 序列均属于一个独特的分支，局限于中东群中之前报道的 V 群。
2017 年至 2020 年不同地点 RV 的分析表明，海湾地区可能存在一种与中东群隔离的遗传变异株。此外，在该地区似乎有新的 RV 谱系迅速出现。因此，对循环 RV 进行全面的基因组和系统发育分析对于制定未来的预防和控制策略非常重要。
