Prevalence of Peste des petits ruminants (KATA) in sheep and goats of Punjab

The present study aims at determining the prevalence of an acute viral disease of small ruminants peste des petits ruminants (ppr) caused by a morbillivirus and is characterized by fever,oculonasal discharges,stomatitis,diarrhoea and pneumonia. samples of nasal swabs and blood samples,504 each,collected from sheep and goats showing signs of pneumoentritis in three different geographical regions viz. north,south and central punjab were screened for ppr virus by rt-pcr test. out of 504 blood samples tested 79 were positive for ppr showing prevalence of 15.7 per cent. of 504 nasal swabs collected from animals already sampled for blood,85 samples were positive for ppr showing prevalence of 16.9 per cent in the small ruminant population of the punjab province. among the three regions prevalence was 24.7,38.8 and 36.5 percent in north,south and central regions of punjab province respectively from nasal swabs. thirty nine nasal swab samples from sheep and 46 from goat were found positive by rt-pcr giving a specie wise prevalence of 15.5 and 18.3 per cent,respectively in both species. the hematological observations of infected animals positive for ppr by rt-pcr test showed anemia in sheep and goats. copyright 2010 zoological society of pakistan.