Peste des petits ruminants in unusual hosts: Epidemiology, disease, and impact on eradication

Abstract

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is primarily a highly contagious morbillivirus infection of small domesticated ruminants. However, it can also infect and cause disease in buffaloes, camels, and a variety of wild ungulates. In camels, it can cause serious disease, although experimental infection often failed to reproduce the natural situation. Clinical disease in wildlife has been observed in various locations of the Arabian Peninsula and in Asia. In numerous cases, there is epidemiological evidence of a spillover of PPR virus from sheep or goats to unusual hosts. Whilst there is clear evidence that a number of wildlife species are susceptible to infection, the actual role of wildlife in the epidemiology of PPR virus remains largely undetermined. Although an enzootic occurrence of PPR in unusual hosts has not been observed up to now, the epidemiological role of these hosts including wildlife populations should not be underestimated and is therefore important in PPR control and final eradication for reaching to PPR zero level.