Investigation on Peste des Petits Ruminants Outbreak in Goats of Bareilly District of Uttar Pradesh, India

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an economically important viral disease of small ruminants, endemic in India. The present study reports on socio-epidemiological aspect of an outbreak of PPR in goats of Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh in Northern part of India. During a visit to the affected villages and also from animals brought to a local clinic, it was observed that goats had clinical signs such as pyrexia, oculo-nasal discharges, dyspnea and diarrhoea indicative of PPR. However, oral lesions were not so prominent. In total, 96 clinical samples (ocular and nasal swabs) were collected from the affected goats suspected for PPR. The PPR virus (PPRV) antigen and nucleic acid were confirmed by sandwich-ELISA and ‘N’ gene-based RT-PCR, respectively. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of partial ‘N’ gene PCR amplicons revealed that the PPRV belonged to lineage IV. The present investigation describes the importance of understanding the role of socio-epidemiological factors on PPR outbreak for efficient implementation of control and eradication strategies.