Article Information

Authors:
Christopher J. Kasanga1
Rahana Dwarka2
Gaothlele Thobokwe3
Jemma Wadsworth4
Nick J. Knowles4
Misheck Mulumba5
Ezekia Ranga6
Jimis Deve11
Cornelius Mundia10
Patrick Chikungwa8
Laureta Joao9
Raphael Sallu7
Mmeta Yongolo7
Philemon N. Wambura1
Mark M. Rweyemamu1
Donald P. King4

Affiliation:
1Southern African Centre for Infectious Diseases Surveillance, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania

2Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa

3Botswana Vaccine Institute, Botswana

4WRLFMD, The Pirbright Institute, United Kingdom

5Southern African Development Community Secretariat, Botswana

6Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries, Tanzania

7Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency, Tanzania

8Southern African Development Community, Transboundary Animal Diseases Section, Malawi

9Southern African Development Community, Transboundary Animal Diseases Section, Angola

10Southern African Development Community, Transboundary Animal Diseases Section, Zambia

11Southern African Development Community, Transboundary Animal Diseases Section, Mozambique

Correspondence to:
Christopher Kasanga

Postal address:
PO Box 3019, Chuo Kikuu, Morogoro, Tanzania

How to cite this article: Kasanga, C.J., Dwarka, R., Thobokwe, G., Wadsworth, J., Knowles, N.J., Mulumba, M. et al., 2014, ‘Molecular biological characteristics of foot-and-mouth disease virus in the African buffalo in southern Africa’, Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 81(2), Art. #728, 1 page. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/
ojvr.v81i2.728

Note:
Proceedings of the 2nd One Health Conference in Africa. Jointly organised by the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance and the Tanzania National Institute for Medical Research, held at the Snow Crest Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania from 16th to 19th April 2013: http://www.sacids.org/
kms/frontend/index.php?m=119.

Copyright Notice:
© 2014. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Molecular biological characteristics of foot-and-mouth disease virus in the African buffalo in southern Africa
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Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in most countries in southern Africa. African buffaloes (Syncerus caffer) are known to play a significant role in the transmission and dynamics of FMD virus (FMDV) in wildlife-livestock interface areas. The aim of this study was to investigate the serotype and determine the genetic relationships of FMDV recovered from animals in Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique, and compare them with viruses detected from elsewhere in the sub-Saharan region. A total of 150 oesophageal-pharyngeal (probang) samples collected in 2010 from cattle and buffaloes in Marromeu (Mozambique), Katavi (Tanzania) and Lochninvar (Zambia) National Parks were used in this study. The presence of FMDV was determined by laboratory methods such as VI, antigen ELISA and real-time RT-PCR. Phylogenies of VP1 sequences were determined by the neighbour-joining method. The overall FMDV genome detection rate was 6.7% (n = 10), with SAT 1 being the most frequent serotype (60%; n = 6) isolated in cattle and buffaloes in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia followed by SAT 3 (30%; n = 3) and

SAT 2 (10%; n = 1). Genotyping showed that type SAT 1 viruses fell into either the TOPOTYPE 1 (NWZ) or UNASSIGNED topotypes, type SAT 2 into the AFRICA topotype I and type SAT 3s into topotype IV (SEZ). This study reveals that serotypes SAT 1–3 are maintained in cattle and buffaloes in livestock-wildlife interface areas in Marromeu, Katavi, and Lochinvar National Parks. Phylogenetic analysis of FMDV isolates from Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique showed that they are genetically related to lineages and topotypes from Africa. This information contributes to the understanding of the epidemiology of FMD in southern Africa. In Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, lack of consistent surveillance systems and animal movement controls make it difficult to determine the exact source of FMD and transmission dynamics of FMDV. Further studies are needed to elucidate the complex epidemiology of FMD in Africa.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust Grant WT087546MA to the Southern African Centre for Infectious Diseases & Surveillance (SACIDS).