Fufa DawoTesfaye SisayGelagay AyeletDejene Milkessa2026-08-042026-08-042010-06https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/8786The dromedary of East Africa particularly, Ethiopia has been suffering from different diseases for the past so many years. Of the many diseases of camels that are rampant in the region, the recently emerged camel disease with still unknown causes is the single most important disease. This camel disease is the leading problem inflicting high morbidity and mortality among the camel population. To this effect, isolation and characterization of the causative agent has of paramount importance. This study was undertaken in the National Veterinary Institute laboratory, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia from October 2009 - June 2010 to isolate and characterize the viral agent from camel postmortem tissues collected during the outbreak of 2007 in Ethiopia. The study was conducted on the basis of cell culture, degenerate oligonucleotide primed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and laboratory animal assay. Virus isolation was attempted for virus in Vero and Dubca cells; four specimens yielded cytopathic virus when inoculated onto the Vero cell culture. The cytopathic effect (CPE) consisted of round floating cells, giant cells, rounded refractive cells, ballooning of cells, sloughing, and some syncytia formation were observed from day two to day seven post inoculation. The appearance of the CPE was looking uniform among different purified tissue samples used for cell infection. The growth of virus was confirmed by degenerate oligonucleotide primed PCR in which amplification was recorded particularly, where extracted RNA was amplified, both from tissue and cell culture. The growth of the virus after storage in -20 DC for days was lost while it can grow from +4 DC and -85 DC in Vero cells. The cell culture suspension was injected to laboratory guinea pigs in which the animals were observed to develop abnormal clinical signs that resulted in death. Although many scientists suspected different known viruses for the cause of outbreak, the isolated virus was confirmed to be out of adenovirus, morbillivirus, parainfluenza 1-3 and respiratory syncytial virus groups. However, although the above known viruses were excluded, a variant of the above viruses that can skip detection using previously known primers and other emerging viruses might not be excluded. Key words: Came l, Cell culture, Emerging disease, Molecular diagnosis, Viral etiologies, Virus isolation.enCame lCell cultureEmerging diseaseMolecular diagnosisViral etiologiesVirus isolation.Thesis