Clinicopathologic effects of Peste Des Petit Ruminant Virus infection in West African dwarf goats

The investigations into the pathogenesis of PPRV in literature had focused on lineage 4 virus with little information on other lineages, hence the need to investigate the sequential clinical features and lesions in experimental lineage 1 PPRV infection in West African dwarf goats. PPRVinfectionwasexperimentally induced in 15 six-month-oldWestAfrican dwarf goats by intratracheal inoculation of 1ml of the pure culture of PPR virus grown in Baby hamster kidney cell line (BHK) with a titre of 106.5 TCID50 and five goats served as controls. The clinical signs were observed and two goats were euthanized at predetermined intervals for gross examinations, virological, bacteriological and histopathological investigations on tissues collected using standard techniques. The clinical signs were pyrexia, serous-mucopurulent nasal discharges with copious ocular discharge, sneezing and coughing, while oral erosions, profuse diarrhoea and death were observed after 28 dpi. The average percentage lung consolidation was 1.11% with no death in the first 28 days while there was a marked increase in lung consolidation from 28 dpi, with a peak on 45 dpi (6.83%) and four animals were found dead. PPR virus and Mannheimia hemolytica A:2 were isolated from the lungs of dead and euthanized animals post 28 dpi. This investigation should help veterinarians recognize the appropriate timing of antibiotic therapy in PPRV cases in the field.