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Mongolia had no reported cases of capripoxvirus disease from 1977 until an outbreak of sheeppox in 2006–2007 and then goatpox in 2008. The two outbreaks occurred in geographically distant areas of Mongolia and, most strikingly, were highly species-specific. The 2006–2007 sheeppox outbreak affected no goats and the 2008 goatpox outbreak affected no sheep despite communal herding. The diseases were diagnosed using the polymerase chain reaction and virus neutralisation test. The P32 gene of the Mongolian sheeppox and goatpox viruses from the recent outbreaks were sequenced and compared with an archived 1967 strain of Goatpox virus from Mongolia. The P32 gene of the 2006–2007 Mongolian Sheeppox virus strain was identical to previously published sheeppox strains. The P32 gene of the 2008 Mongolian Goatpox virus strain was identical to the gene from virus isolated from recent goatpox outbreaks in China and Vietnam. The archived Mongolian Goatpox virus strain was unique.

A/equine/Kanazawa/1/2007 (H3N8), A/equine/Hokkaido/I828/2008 (H3N8) and A/equine/Mongolia/1/2008 (H3N8) were isolated from infected horses. A/equine/Yokohama/aq19/2009 (H3N8) and A/equine/Yokohama/aq13/2010 (H3N8) were isolated from horses imported from Canada and Belgium examined at the Animal Quarantine Service in Yokohama, Japan. In the present study, these five isolates were genetically and antigenically analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes showed that three isolates from horses in Japan and imported from Canada belonged to the same branch, clade 1 of the Florida sublineage, while the isolates from horses in Mongolia and imported from Belgium belonged to another branch, clade 2 of the Florida sublineage. Reactivity patterns of a panel of monoclonal antibodies to the HA of A/equine/Kanazawa/1/2007 (H3N8) with the five isolates indicate that the HAs of these viruses were antigenically similar to each other and to the reference strains A/equine/La Plata/1/1993 (H3N8) and A/equine/Avesta/1/1993 (H3N8). The present findings indicate that extensive antigenic variation has not accumulated among H3N8 influenza viruses in horses.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a transboundary viral infectious disease in cattle caused by aCapripoxvirus. LSD has been recently introduced in some Asian countries. However, in Mongolia, no report of LSD is publicly available. We clinically examined LSD symptoms in 1,034 cattle from 4 soum (district) in Dornod province in Mongolia. Sixty-one cattle of them were confirmed with symptoms of LSD and then viral P32 gene was detected by a PCR. The overall prevalence of LSD in cattle was 5.9 %. Females odds ratios (OR) = 2.27 than males, adults (>2.5-years-old, OR = 3.68) than young (1-2.5-years-old) and calves (<1-year-old) were at higher risks for LSD cases in Mongolia, while locations near the tube well and pond water are major risk areas for viral transmission due to density of insects often is high. For virus isolation, skin nodule tissue samples of 4 cattle located in four distinct soums were used for viral propagation using the MDBK cell line. Internal terminal repeat region and RPO30 gene of 4 Mongolian isolates were amplified and sequenced. In the phylogenetic trees, Mongolian LSDVs (2021) were clustered together with the Chinese (2020) and Vietnamese isolates (2020). This is the first report alarming the LSD outbreak in Mongolia that was confirmed by our study. The newly isolated viruses would be a useful base for developing diagnostic tools and inactivated vaccine technology. A large-scale study of LSD is next priority for establishing successful control strategy of further disease outbreak.

ABSTRACT. To investigate Brucella infection in cattle, sheep, goat, reindeer and yak in Mongolia, serological reactions of Brucella-infected and -vaccinated domestic animals were compared by the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test with a polysaccharide (poly-B) of the B. Abortus strain S-19. The sensitivity and specificity were compared with conventional serological tests that are commonly used in Mongolia, such as the rose Bengal test, the tube agglutination test and the compliment fixation test. A total of 73.3, 100, 100, 95.8 and 61.9% of the sera from suspected cattle, yak, goat, sheep and reindeer, respectively, that were positive in the compliment fixation test, were also positive in the AGID test. Sera from vaccinated cattle, sheep and goat were positive over 90% by conventional tests 3 months after vaccination, but were negative by the AGID. These results suggest that the AGID test may be useful to differentiate infected and vaccinated animals in the field. KEY WORDS: AGID test, Brucellosis, poly-B.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 64(9): 839-841, 2002 Brucella Abortus and Brucella Melitensis are bacteria that can cause abortions in domestic animals and undulant fever that may persist intermittently for years in humans. In Mongolia, young and adult domestic animals such as calves, sheep and goats have been vaccinated with attenuated live cells of B. Abortus strain S-19 and B. Melitensis strain Rev-1 to protect against brucellosis, but the protection is not an absolute [1] because brucellosis occurs every year in Mongolia. However, diagnosing brucellosis is difficult because vaccine strains have antigenicity similar to virulent strains of Brucella [2,6], and consequently differentiating infected and vaccinated animals is very hard. Reports exist that vaccinated and infected animals that have checked by the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test using Brucella polysaccharide can be differentiated [2][3][4]6]. In this study, we show that the AGID test using polysaccharide (poly-B) antigen isolated from the B. Abortus vaccine strain S-19 can be useful in epidemiological studies to differentiate vaccinated and infected animals in Mongolia.Poly-B antigen was prepared by the method of DiazAparicio et al. [3]. Briefly, washed cells of B. Abortus strain S-19 were extracted with 2.0% acetic acid-10% NaCl at 120°C for 30 min. The cell debris was removed by centrifugation, and the supernatant was precipitated with methanol-1.0% sodium acetate. The precipitate was then chromatographed on Sphadex G-50 (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden). We could not use wild-type strain for antigen preparation because of bio-safety problems in Mongolia, therefore B. Abortus strain S-19 was used for antigen preparation. The specificity of the AGID test using poly-B antigen was checked by using serum samples collected from 114 cattle and 42 sheep, which were selected from unvaccinated and brucellosis-free farms in Mongolia. All serum samples were negative by the rose Bengal test (RBT), the tube agglutination test (TAT) and the compliment fixation test (CFT...