ABSTRACT
Foot and mouth disease [FMD] is the most contagious disease of mammals and has a great potential for causing severe economic loss in susceptible cloven-hoofed animals. Egypt has a long history of occurrence of FMDV outbreaks, as the country is dependent on importion of live animals and meat from many countries all over the world. The present study was designed for detection, isolation and molecular characterization of FMDV circulationg among different regions in Beheira governorate. Thirty-eight tissue samples were collected from clinically diseased cattle and buffalo from different localities of Beheira governorate. Direct detection of FMDV using ELISA revealed that 84.2% of the samples were possitive. Molecular characterization showed that 24 samples [75%] were possitive for serotype O and eight samples [25%] were positive for serotype SAT2. This indicates the predominance of serotype O FMDV in Beheira, Egypt