Occurrence of Dual Infection of Peste-Des-Petits-Ruminants and Goatpox in Indigenous Goats of Central India

Abstract

Summary Peste‐des‐petits‐ruminants (PPR), bluetongue (BT) and goatpox (GP) have been well recognized as causes of significant economic losses in the small ruminant population of Asia and Africa. We describe here the occurrence of these three in an outbreak noticed in non‐descript goats from a subtropical region of central India. An investigation was carried out to confirm the aetiology of the heavy mortality in goats (74.6%, 112/150), with testing of samples from 12 surviving animals exhibiting mixed clinical signs indicative of PPR, BT and GP. Sandwich ELISA was used to detect PPR virus antigen and competition ELISA to detect PPR virus and BT virus antibodies. GP was confirmed on the basis of nodular lesions and an immunodiffusion assay. Eight of the 12 affected animals (66.7%) were positive for PPR virus and BT virus antibodies, and two goats (16.7%, 2/12) exhibiting clinical lesions of pox were also found positive for PPR virus/antibodies and BT virus antibodies, respectively. Although BT virus could not be identified in any sample, detection of BT virus antibodies indicated previous or possibly concurrent infection with BT virus in these goats. The N‐gene‐based RT‐PCR was used to confirm the PPR infection in these goats, and one of the amplicons was sequenced. The sequence and phylogenetic analysis revealed close proximity to PPR virus isolates from Tibet and China, with sequence homology of up to 96.9%. The sequence homology was relatively low with the majority of other Indian isolates (72.7–93.5%). The detection of this new PPR virus sequence indicates the circulation of cross‐border strains in this region of India. It is presumed that the heavy mortality observed in goats is possibly attributable to the occurrence of mixed infection of PPR and GP, or PPR, BT and GP.

Mixed infection of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) and other respiratory viruses in dromedary camels in Sudan, an abattoir study

“…Simultaneous infection of goats with PPRVand blue tongue virus (BTV) was reported by Mondal et al (2009). Saravanan et al (2007) reported on a natural occurrence of dual infection by PPRV and ORFV in goats, and recently, Malik et al (2011) provided evidence for mixed virus infection of goats in India involving PPRV, BTV, and goat pox virus (GPV). PPR is known to weaken the immune system of the animal by attacking the lymphatic system (Hassan et al 1994), and a recent study suggested immune cell targeting by PPRV (Pope et al 2013).…”

Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus Tissue Tropism and Pathogenesis in Sheep and Goats following Experimental Infection

“…For example, when PPRV was co-administered with the bacterial pathogen Mannheimia haemolytica , enhanced pneumonia was observed [37]. In addition, in natural field settings livestock are likely to be co-infected with other viruses such as capripoxvirus and/or bluetongue virus [38], that would most likely exacerbate the onset and severity of PPR.…”

Prevalence, diagnosis, management and control of important diseases of ruminants with special reference to indian scenario

“…Goats were more susceptible to PPR and manifest severe clinical form of disease than sheep. A report from central India showed occurrence of dual infection of PPR and Goatpox in indigenous goats (Malik et al, 2011a Dhar et al, 2002;Balamurugan et al, 2012;Singh et al, 2013;Muthuchelvan et al, 2015). The expected yearly losses due to this disease may reach up to 1800 million rupees.…”