The descriptive distribution and phylogeny of feline coronaviruses (FCoVs) were studied in cats suspected of having feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) in Malaysia. Ascitic fluids and/or biopsy samples were subjected to a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) targeted for a conserved region of 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) of the FCoV genome. Eighty nine percent of the sampled animals were positive for the presence of FCoV. Among the FCoV positive cats, 80% of cats were males and 64% were below 2 years of age. The FCoV positive cases included 56% domestic short hair (DSH), 40% Persian, and 4% Siamese cats. The nucleotide sequences of 10 selected amplified products from FIP cases were determined. The sequence comparison revealed that the field isolates had 96% homology with a few point mutations. The extent of homology decreased to 93% when compared with reference strains. The overall branching pattern of phylogenetic tree showed two distinct clusters, where all Malaysian isolates fall into one main genetic cluster. These findings provided the first genetic information of FCoV in Malaysia.
Orf virus is a DNA virus that causes contiguous ecthyma in goat and sheep. Infection of animals with this virus cause high mortality in young animals resulting in huge economic losses. In this study, we investigated an outbreak of Orf in a goat farm in Malaysia. Samples were collected from infected animals and viral isolation was done using both LT and MDCK cell lines. Molecular detection was done by conventional PCR for specific primers; B2L and F1L genes and phylogenetic analysis was done on the sequence data obtained. Cytopathic effects (CPE) were observed in both cell lines after 3 days of inoculation and were 50 % by the sixth day. PCR showed positive bands for both B2L and F1L genes and phylogenetic analysis showed that the Malaysian strain had close homology to the Chinese and Indian Orf virus isolates. This study gives more insight into the existing Orf viral strains in Malaysia and their relationship with other strains globally.