Peste des Petits Ruminants ( PPR ) virus serological surveillance in goats in Lao PDR : Issues for disease eradication in a low‐resource disease‐free setting

Abstract

Peste des Petits ruminants (PPR) is an economically important transboundary viral disease of goats. This study aimed to determine a baseline of serological evidence for Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) in Lao goats. A total of 1,072 serum samples were collected by convenience sampling across five provinces in Laos and tested for antibody response to PPRV using a commercially available competitive ELISA. Positive antibody responses were found in 2.2% (95% CI 1.4, 3.2) of the samples. True prevalence calculations indicated a total overall sample prevalence of 1.7% (95% CI 0.9, 2.8). The highest provincial seroprevalences were Xiangkhouang (3.5%, 95% CI 1.6, 6.9) and Xayaboury (2.9% (95% CI 1.3, 5.7). There was no association between antibody response and each of the following factors: location, breed, gender or age. Considering the apparent absence of disease manifestation of PPR in Laos, likely explanations for the antibody positivity could include cross reaction to other Morbilliviruses such as Measles or Canine Distemper, importation of pre‐vaccinated goats, need for test cut‐off re‐evaluation to be region specific, or a subclinical and a less virulent circulating virus. This study highlights that the sampled Lao goat population is highly likely to be naïve to PPRV and therefore at risk of an outbreak, possibly by transboundary incursion of livestock from PPR endemic China. Further work is required in the testing of small ruminants in Laos that may eventually provide evidence for a status of freedom from disease, particularly in support of programs aimed at global PPR eradication.

Serosurvey of Peste des Petits Ruminants in Small Ruminants in the Hilly Terrain North-Eastern State of Sikkim in India

“…On screening of the 776 serum samples, the observed apparent and calculated true seroprevalence was 1.16% and -0.005 %, respectively (Table 1) et al, 2017;Acharya et al, 2018;Dayhum et al, 2018;Burns et al, 2019) including some studies from India with varying levels of seroprevalence (Singh et al, 2004a;Raghavendra et al, 2008;Balamurugan et al, 2014a;2020a;Devi et al, 2016). The present study defines the prevalence of SRMV antibodies in small ruminants in Sikkim and generated evidence of a very low apparent seroprevalence, which might be due to the collected random samples were from apparently healthy animals and not from PPR suspected animals.…”

Seroprevalence of peste des petits ruminants disease in Indonesian buffaloes may be an emerging threat to small ruminants

“…PPR is a transboundary emerging disease that spreads across broad geographic areas in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East [10]. PPR has become endemic in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Bangladesh, Tanzania, China, and Laos [10][11][12][13][14][15]. In 2021, the first case of PPR in Southeast Asia was recently reported to the WOAH in Thailand.…”

A predictive analysis on the risk of peste des petits ruminants in livestock in the Trans-Himalayan region and validation of its transboundary transmission paths

“…It has been suggested that the global eradication of PPR could return benefits of about $74 billion over 15 years [26]. However, the continuous epidemiological cycles of PPR worldwide [27] constitute a great challenge to eradicating the disease. This calls for a deeper understanding of its temporospatial characteristics.…”