Isolation and molecular characterisation of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype o from pigs

Regular monitoring of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks and phylogenetic studies of FMD viruses (FMDV) are important in designing effective control strategies. These approaches, however, mainly concerted on cattle since they are the main noticeable disease hosts. In this study, 31 clinical samples were collected from clinically infected pigs and cattle from an outbreak reported in Dhemaji district of Assam for isolation, serotyping and molecular characterisation of FMDV. All the samples were positive for FMDV serotype O by sandwich ELISA and PCR. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the pig-derived isolate shared close relatedness with another pig origin Type O FMDV isolate from Bangladesh (KX712091.1) and a bovine origin Type O FMDV reported from India (KP822945.1). Results of this study, therefore, suggest the possibility of domestic pigs getting infected with a similar strain of FMDV circulating among cattle. The findings provide useful information regarding the potentially important role of pigs in disease maintenance and spread.