DURING February and March 2012, foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) had caused wide-spread field outbreaks in Egypt. The disease was reported mainly in Delta area and along the Nile. The affected species included cattle, buffaloes. Calves were more severely affected. Monitoring circulating virus serotypes to ensure that vaccine strain matched field virus was performed in the current work. In addition, tongue epithelial tissue samples from cattle were collected from Monufia, Qalyubia and Sharkia Governorates to perform genetic and antigenic characterization to monitor the circulating virus strain. FMD virus was determined using virus isolation, RT-PCR and real-time RT-PCR using primer pair derived from 3D polymerase and serotype specific primers. The antigenic matching of FMD virus isolates and vaccine strain (r-value) was performed by virus neutralization test and ELISA. These tests used 21 days antiserum raised against vaccine strain. The results showed that the causative agent of the outbreak was FMDV serotypes SAT2, which was detected in all collected samples. Vaccine matching tests (r-value) revealed that the fifteen FMDV isolates were antigenically closely related to vaccine strain. Finally, monitoring the emergence of new FMDV strains in Egypt is important to enable appropriate vaccine to be selected and control measures to be implemented as rapidly as possible.