ESTABLISHMENT OF PCR ASSAY FOR MOLECULARLY DETECTING OF SHEEP POX VIRUS IN CLINICALLY INFECTED CASES IN AL-HASSA, EASTERN REGION OF SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The current study was conducted to clinically, histopathologically and molecularly identify the Sheep pox virus (SPPV) from a recent outbreak affected sheep farms in Al-Hassa of Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia during the period etween the winter and the spring, 2013. Typical pock lesions including macules, papules, nodules were dispersed over the body of the affected animals without nodular lesions observed in the lung tissue of the dead animals. Thirty skin lesions of crusted scab s