Detection and Isolation of Camelpox Virus in Wasit Province, Iraq

Camels are susceptible to a variety of infectious diseases, such as trypanosomiasis, anthrax, hemorrhagic septicemia, brucellosis, mange, and pox, which can also affect other farm animal species. Camelpox is one of the most infectious skin diseases, which is caused by the Camelpox virus (CPV), a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the Poxviridae family. This study mainly aimed to detect and isolate CPV affecting camels in Wasit province, Iraq. Initially, the study focused principally on clinical manifestations of the disease in affected animals. Afterward, 110 skin samples were collected from infected animals under strict aseptic conditions. They were to be subjected to inoculation into the local embryonated chicken eggs to isolate the virus from the chicken embryo fibroblast cell culture. Finally, the isolates were confirmed using the molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Camelpox virus isolates appeared as several necrotic pock lesions on the Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) with cell clustering and sloughing or detachment from the monolayer. Molecular testing was conducted using the PCR assay by targeting the ATIP gene at 881bp. The findings demonstrated that all the investigated isolates were poxvirus positive. In addition, it was found that Camelpox disease is significantly endemic in Wasit province, Iraq. The visualization of the characteristic features of the virus also revealed it can easily adapt to replication in the CAM and cell culture.