Prevalence and molecular characterization of Peste Des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in Goat

Abstract

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an acute and highly contagious viral disease of goat and sheep responsible for high morbidity and mortality. This study was designed to estimate prevalence and determined associated risk factors as well as molecular characterization of circulatory PPR virus strains in Chattogram Metropolitan and its surrounding areas, Bangladesh. A total of 400 samples were collected from July 2018 to June 2019. The causative agent, PPR virus (PPRV) was confirmed by clinical signs, virus isolation, N-gene based PCR and finally sequencing. Eighty-eight (22%; Confidence Interval: 18.2%-26.4%) goats diagnosed positive for PPR on the basis of clinical signs and 61 (15.3%; CI: 12.0%-19.1%) confirmed positive for PPRV by PCR. Among 88 clinically positive PPR cases, 31 were confirmed by PCR. Sex was identified as a significant risk factor where male goats (19.2%) had more PPRV infection than the female (12.2%) goats. Fever (79.5%), diarrhea (85.2%), respiratory distress (53.4%) and purulent nasal discharge (54.5%) were common clinical signs of PPR in the study. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that PPRVs circulating in this area belonged to Lineage IV and they formed a separate sub-cluster along with the recent isolates from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and China. It also reveals that genetic character of existing PPR vaccine in this country is different from the isolates of this study.