Clinico-Hemato-Biochemical and Molecular Diagnostic Investigations of Peste des Petits Ruminants in Goats

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an acute, infectious and devastating disease of small ruminants, especially for goats. Recently, an outbreak of PPR occurred at a goat farm in Nankana District, Punjab province, Pakistan with 100% (n=105) morbidity and 24% (25/105) mortality. The goats showed characteristic signs of PPR including high temperature, oculo-nasal discharges, diarrhea and ulcerative lesions in the oral cavity. The clinical signs, pathological lesions, hematological values, and serum biochemistry were studied. On postmortem examination, severe pneumonia and enteritis were observed in infected animals There was marked lymphopenia, decreased erythrocytes level with increased mean corpuscular hemoglobin volume (MCV). The release of albumin and pus cells in urine indicated the kidney damage. Clinical outcome, gross lesions, and histopathological findings were suggestive of Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) infection, which was confirmed by the application of antigenically conserved N gene-based RT-PCR. More than 70% of clinically infected animals were found positive for PPR virus (PPRV) using the RT-PCR. Further investigations carried out to understand the phylogenetic relationship revealed lineage IV PPR viruses involved in the outbreak having more than 90% similarity with isolates previously reported from Pakistan. Pakistan is still in the endemic state for PPR as various outbreaks have been reported from various regions of the country. Regular monitoring of PPR disease and viruses spread are essential for the implementation of appropriate control actions and to know the risk assessment. (C) 2019 PVJ. All rights reserved