Molecular Detection of Peste des Petits Ruminants virus from Different Sample Materials of Sheep, Northeastern Turkey

Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious disease of domestic and wild small ruminants. In this study, a totally 85 materials were used consist of different samples such as lymph nodule, nasal swap, lung, spleen from sheep (n=32), each from different flocks, suspected the PPR infection as clinically and macroscopic pathological lesions in Kars region, Northeastern Turkey. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used for the molecular detection of PPR infection. PPRV nucleic acid was detected in 48 of 85 materials by RT-PCR. According to the results of RT-PCR, positivity rates as 62.5% (15/24), 60% (6/10), 50% (13/26), 56% (14/25) were detected in the samples of lymph nodule, nasal swap, lung, spleen, respectively. This study showed that PPR infection is common in the sheep being raised in the region where the study was carried out. The samples of lymph nodule, nasal swap, lung, spleen are more valuable as the diagnostic material from sheep in the detection of PPR infections by RT-PCR. In addition, it is determined that RT-PCR is sensitive and reliable method in the diagnosis of PPR infections.