Peste des Petits Ruminants at the Wildlife-Livestock Interface in the Northern Albertine Rift and Nile Basin, East Africa.

Xavier Fernández-Aguilar ,Margaret Driciru,David Solomon Adwok,Mana Mahapatra,Satya Parida,Krupali Parekh,Andreu Colom-Cadena,Mattia Begovoeva,Chrisostom Ayebazibwe,Richard Kock,Ignasi Marco,Jean-Paul Kabemba Lukusa,Natascha Meunier,Alexandre Caron,Johan Espunyes,J Muró ,Arnaud Bataillé ,Geneviève Libeau ,Gladys Kalema‐Zikusoka ,Óscar Cabezón ,Michael D Kock

doi:10.3390/v12030293

Abstract

In the recent past, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) emerged in East Africa causing outbreaks in small livestock across different countries, with evidences of spillover to wildlife. In order to understand better PPR at the wildlife–livestock interface, we investigated patterns of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) exposure, disease outbreaks, and viral sequences in the northern Albertine Rift. PPRV antibodies indicated a widespread exposure in apparently healthy wildlife from South Sudan (2013) and Uganda (2015, 2017). African buffaloes and Uganda kobs <1-year-old from Queen Elizabeth National Park (2015) had antibodies against PPRV N-antigen and local serosurvey captured a subsequent spread of PPRV in livestock. Outbreaks with PPR-like syndrome in sheep and goats were recorded around the Greater Virunga Landscape in Kasese (2016), Kisoro and Kabale (2017) from western Uganda, and in North Kivu (2017) from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This landscape would not be considered typical for PPR persistence as it is a mixed forest–savannah ecosystem with mostly sedentary livestock. PPRV sequences from DRC (2017) were identical to strains from Burundi (2018) and confirmed a transboundary spread of PPRV. Our results indicate an epidemiological linkage between epizootic cycles in livestock and exposure in wildlife, denoting the importance of PPR surveillance on wild artiodactyls for both conservation and eradication programs.

Highlights

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is a small ruminant morbillivirus from the Paramyxoviridae family that groups with other notorious members like Rinderpest virus (RPV), measles virus, canine, or phocine distemper virus [1]
A phylogenetic analysis was carried out using the total of 35 partial N-gene sequences (Figure 5) that confirmed the circulation of lineage III PPRV in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as reported in samples collected from domestic goats in 2018 [49]
Interfaces in peste des petits ruminants (PPR) epidemiology is still largely unknown in Africa and this gap could be an issue for the livestock interfaces in PPR epidemiology is still largely unknown in Africa and this gap could be an PPR global eradication program

Summary

Introduction

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is a small ruminant morbillivirus from the Paramyxoviridae family that groups with other notorious members like Rinderpest virus (RPV), measles virus, canine, or phocine distemper virus [1]. The disease peste des petits ruminants (PPR), is one of the most important and devastating infectious diseases in domestic small ruminants across more than 70 countries, causing economic losses of 1.45 to 2.1 billion United States Dollar (USD) each year, potentially threatening 80%. PPR is a significant disease and the cause of mortality in captive and wild artiodactyls in Asia and the Middle. The peracute and acute syndrome in sheep and goats can cause nearly 100% of morbidity and high fatality rate [11]. Both clinical signs and mortality can vary widely depending on viral strains, breeds, coinfections, and general nutrition and fitness. A significant constraint on reaching this goal is the lack of understanding of the PPR epidemiology at the wildlife–livestock interface, in which several domestic and wild species may be involved [5,14]

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