Confirmation of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia outbreak in Gaddi goats of Himachal Pradesh, India

Contagious caprine pleuropneumoniais a fatal disease of small ruminants particularly goats listed by World Organization for Animal Health. It is caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae, which belongs to Mycoplasma mycoides cluster, a group of closely related Mycoplasmas. The clinical lesions are mainly restricted to alveolar tissues of infected goats. The outbreak of CCPP was reported in two flocks comprising a total 1365 goats in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. In this study, a total of 8 samples (four nasal swabs, two tracheal swabs and two thoracic fluid) were collected either from morbid goats showing respiratory symptoms or at post-mortem. None of the sheep showed any signs of respiratory distress and were not investigated. Samples were processed for MCCP isolation and identification. All samples were found positive for CCPP by PCR. These findings revealed that goats are highly vulnerable to CCPP as indicated by high rate of case fatality of 45.07%. Overall morbidity and mortality due to CCPP in goats was 19.34% and 8.71%, respectively. These findings warrants for better diagnostic and management practices to curtail economic losses.