Clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local Iraqi breed cattle

Rabies is a lethal viral disease with no specific treatment caused by the Lyssavirus, which renders it dangerously hostile towards cattle. This study was conducted to score clinical and pathologic criteria for rabid dogs in the middle Euphrates of Iraq and link them to phylogenetic analysis. Eighty...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: M. H. Hussain, Kh. A. Mansour, S. A. A. Al-Redah, A. J. Abid
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria 2025-03-01
Series:Bulgarian Journal of Veterinary Medicine
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832581878685630464
author M. H. Hussain
Kh. A. Mansour
S. A. A. Al-Redah
A. J. Abid
author_facet M. H. Hussain
Kh. A. Mansour
S. A. A. Al-Redah
A. J. Abid
author_sort M. H. Hussain
collection DOAJ
description Rabies is a lethal viral disease with no specific treatment caused by the Lyssavirus, which renders it dangerously hostile towards cattle. This study was conducted to score clinical and pathologic criteria for rabid dogs in the middle Euphrates of Iraq and link them to phylogenetic analysis. Eighty-one cattle were suspected to have rabies after a history of being attacked and having signs of rabies: rest-lessness, aggression, drooling saliva, hitting head to fences, inappetence, recurrent failed trials of defecation with an opened anus, and fever. Samples of the dead cattle cerebellum were referred for histopathology and molecular detection to confirm the diagnosis. The study showed that the most common clinical signs in the affected animals were behavioural changes (30% of all cattle), followed by a fever (25%), and ataxia (16%). The rest of the clinical signs appeared in varying proportions. With regard to histopathological evaluation, neurological lesions, inflammation, and gliosis scored 3 and were described as severe lesions, while the Negri bodies were moderately scored by 2 as an aver-age number. The phylogenetic analysis revealed variations at a total of 24 places in multiple sequence alignments between two field rabies virus nucleotide sequences from the current investigation (>MW893685 and >MW893684) and 48 GenBank nucleotide sequences, including the reference strain (>NC_001542). Significant differences in relative locations were found between several field isolates and reference strains. Our study showed substitutions of phenylalanine, proline, histidine, lysine, serine and proline, threonine, and asparagine to serine, glutamine, arginine, leucine, serine, threonine, methionine, and valine at different sites. Furthermore, when building the phylogenetic tree, the current study isolates (Iraqi isolates) were mostly similar to Nigerian isolates. In conclusion, rabies in cattle is an endemic, life-threatening, transboundary disease that affects animals and public health in Iraq and needs more studies to explain the cause behind the recorded substitution mutations and the similarity of the Iraqi isolates with Nigerian isolates.
format Article
id doaj-art-08fea1331b90414daceb93deb53c48a6
institution Kabale University
issn 1311-1477
1313-3543
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
record_format Article
series Bulgarian Journal of Veterinary Medicine
spelling doaj-art-08fea1331b90414daceb93deb53c48a62025-01-30T07:37:29ZengFaculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, BulgariaBulgarian Journal of Veterinary Medicine1311-14771313-35432025-03-012818910410.15547/bjvm.2023-0099Clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local Iraqi breed cattleM. H. Hussain0Kh. A. Mansour1S. A. A. Al-Redah 2A. J. Abid3College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Diwaniyah, IraqCollege of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Diwaniyah, IraqCollege of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Diwaniyah, IraqCollege of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Diwaniyah, IraqRabies is a lethal viral disease with no specific treatment caused by the Lyssavirus, which renders it dangerously hostile towards cattle. This study was conducted to score clinical and pathologic criteria for rabid dogs in the middle Euphrates of Iraq and link them to phylogenetic analysis. Eighty-one cattle were suspected to have rabies after a history of being attacked and having signs of rabies: rest-lessness, aggression, drooling saliva, hitting head to fences, inappetence, recurrent failed trials of defecation with an opened anus, and fever. Samples of the dead cattle cerebellum were referred for histopathology and molecular detection to confirm the diagnosis. The study showed that the most common clinical signs in the affected animals were behavioural changes (30% of all cattle), followed by a fever (25%), and ataxia (16%). The rest of the clinical signs appeared in varying proportions. With regard to histopathological evaluation, neurological lesions, inflammation, and gliosis scored 3 and were described as severe lesions, while the Negri bodies were moderately scored by 2 as an aver-age number. The phylogenetic analysis revealed variations at a total of 24 places in multiple sequence alignments between two field rabies virus nucleotide sequences from the current investigation (>MW893685 and >MW893684) and 48 GenBank nucleotide sequences, including the reference strain (>NC_001542). Significant differences in relative locations were found between several field isolates and reference strains. Our study showed substitutions of phenylalanine, proline, histidine, lysine, serine and proline, threonine, and asparagine to serine, glutamine, arginine, leucine, serine, threonine, methionine, and valine at different sites. Furthermore, when building the phylogenetic tree, the current study isolates (Iraqi isolates) were mostly similar to Nigerian isolates. In conclusion, rabies in cattle is an endemic, life-threatening, transboundary disease that affects animals and public health in Iraq and needs more studies to explain the cause behind the recorded substitution mutations and the similarity of the Iraqi isolates with Nigerian isolates.bovineclinicopathological scoringlyssavirusphylogenetic studyrabies
spellingShingle M. H. Hussain
Kh. A. Mansour
S. A. A. Al-Redah
A. J. Abid
Clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local Iraqi breed cattle
Bulgarian Journal of Veterinary Medicine
bovine
clinicopathological scoring
lyssavirus
phylogenetic study
rabies
title Clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local Iraqi breed cattle
title_full Clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local Iraqi breed cattle
title_fullStr Clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local Iraqi breed cattle
title_full_unstemmed Clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local Iraqi breed cattle
title_short Clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local Iraqi breed cattle
title_sort clinico¬pathological features and phylogenetic analysis of rabies infection in local iraqi breed cattle
topic bovine
clinicopathological scoring
lyssavirus
phylogenetic study
rabies
work_keys_str_mv AT mhhussain clinicopathologicalfeaturesandphylogeneticanalysisofrabiesinfectioninlocaliraqibreedcattle
AT khamansour clinicopathologicalfeaturesandphylogeneticanalysisofrabiesinfectioninlocaliraqibreedcattle
AT saaalredah clinicopathologicalfeaturesandphylogeneticanalysisofrabiesinfectioninlocaliraqibreedcattle
AT ajabid clinicopathologicalfeaturesandphylogeneticanalysisofrabiesinfectioninlocaliraqibreedcattle