Abstract
Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a viral disease of goats and sheep that occurs in Africa, the Middle East and Asia with a severe impact on livelihoods and livestock trade. Many wild artiodactyls are susceptible to PPR virus (PPRV) infection, and some outbreaks have threatened endangered wild populations. The role of wild species in PPRV epidemiology is unclear, which is a knowledge gap for the Global Strategy for the Control and Eradication of PPR. These studies aimed to investigate PPRV infection in wild artiodactyls in the Greater Serengeti and Amboseli ecosystems of Kenya and Tanzania. Out of 132 animals purposively sampled in 2015–2016, 19.7% were PPRV seropositive by ID Screen PPR competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA; IDvet, France) from the following species: African buffalo, wildebeest, topi, kongoni, Grant’s gazelle, impala, Thomson’s gazelle, warthog and gerenuk, while waterbuck and lesser kudu were seronegative. In 2018–2019, a cross-sectional survey of randomly selected African buffalo and Grant’s gazelle herds was conducted. The weighted estimate of PPRV seroprevalence was 12.0% out of 191 African buffalo and 1.1% out of 139 Grant’s gazelles. All ocular and nasal swabs and faeces were negative by PPRV real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Investigations of a PPR-like disease in sheep and goats confirmed PPRV circulation in the area by rapid detection test and/or RT-qPCR. These results demonstrated serological evidence of PPRV infection in wild artiodactyl species at the wildlife–livestock interface in this ecosystem where PPRV is endemic in domestic small ruminants. Exposure to PPRV could be via spillover from infected small ruminants or from transmission between wild animals, while the relatively low seroprevalence suggests that sustained transmission is unlikely. Further studies of other major wild artiodactyls in this ecosystem are required, such as impala, Thomson’s gazelle and wildebeest.
Highlights
Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly infectious disease of goats and sheep that is widespread across Africa, the Middle East and Asia
No PPR virus (PPRV) ribonucleic acid (RNA) was detected by reverse transcriptionquantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in the ocular or nasal swabs, or in the faeces collected from these animals
The cross-sectional survey found that the PPRV seroprevalence was relatively low in African buffalo and very low in Grant’s gazelle, in comparison to purposive studies in these species and surveys in domestic small ruminants
Summary
Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly infectious disease of goats and sheep that is widespread across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The disease has occurred in some captive and free-ranging wild artiodactyls. It is caused by PPR virus (PPRV, Small ruminant morbillivirus), which is most closely related to rinderpest and measles viruses [1,2]. PPR disease has a severe impact on food security, livelihoods and small ruminant trade for livestock-keeping communities. It is an important transboundary animal disease that has been targeted for global eradication by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) [3,4,5]. PPR disease has severely impacted critically endangered wild species such as the saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica mongolica), probably caused by virus of livestock origin, making it one of the important diseases of concern to wildlife conservation [6] with a potential impact on wildlife tourism revenue, adding further incentive for the elimination of this disease from livestock
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