Abstract:
South Africa is endemic for lumpy skin disease and is therefore reliant on various live
attenuated vaccines for the control and prevention of the disease. In recent years,
widespread outbreaks of vaccine-like strains of lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) were
reported internationally, leading to an increase in the generation of full genome sequences
from field isolates. In this study, the complete genomes of six LSDVs submitted
during active outbreaks in the 1990s in South Africa were generated. Based on
phylogenetic analysis, the six viruses clustered with vaccine strains in LSDV Subgroup
1.1 and are subsequently referred to as vaccine-associated. The genetic differences
between the phenotypically distinct vaccine and vaccine-associated strains were 67
single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). This study characterized the location and
possible importance of each of these SNPs in their role during virulence and host
specificity.
