Abstract :
Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), is a highly contagious viral disease affecting domestic
and wild small ruminants. It is in the list of animal diseases to be notified to the World
Organization for Animal Health (Office International des Epizooties, OIE). Because of the
high magnitude of importance of sheep and goats for the poor and landless farmers, the
control of disease, which has a negative impact on their productions, is aimed at poverty
alleviation. A single injection of live attenuated monovalent vaccine (Nig/75/1) can induce
protective immunity for at least the economic life of the animals, however vaccine efficacy
only holds if the vaccination is done before exposure and when the animals at sub-clinical
level of infection. In Pakistan, though published reports on existence of PPR in the country
are few but findings on clinical signs and course of the disease are consistent with the
internationally published reports on PPR elsewhere and the neighboring countries. The limited
reports of incidence of PPR from few places/provinces do not exclude the possibility
of presence of infection in other parts/province of the country. Therefore, the epidemiology,
pathogenicity, host susceptibility/resistance and molecular nature of PPR virus have
become multifaceted than considered formerly. It is anticipated that patent PPR vaccines
and sophisticated diagnostic tests that differentiate infected and vaccinated animals might
improve the diagnostic and epidemiological capabilities.
