COMPARISON OF CAMELPOX VIRUSES ISOLATED IN DUBAI

Between October 1993 and March 1994, outbreaks of pox-like exanthemas were observed in several camel raising farms in Dubai. Scabs from twen ty camels with either local or generalized lesions were examined, seve n of them had previously been vaccinated with a modified live camelpox virus vaccine. Inspection of scabs by electron microscopy confirmed a n infection with orthopox viruses (OPV) in 10 animals and with parapox virus in one camel. Investigation of the scabs by polymerase chain re action and dot blot assay revealed the presence of OPV in 15 or 13 sam ples, respectively. OPV could be isolated in cell culture in 14 cases. Restriction enzyme profiles characterized all isolates as camelpox vi rus. Their DNA patterns were virtually identical displaying only sligh t variations in the terminal fragments. In contrast, the vaccine strai n showed a distinct restriction enzyme profile, indicating that it was not involved in the infections.