Progress to Control and Eradication of Peste des Petits Ruminants in the Southern African Development Community Region.

Andrea Britton,Berhanu Bedane,Alexandre Caron

doi:10.3389/fvets.2019.00343

Abstract

In southern Africa, small ruminants are an important source of nutrition and income to resource-poor small holder farmers. After spreading from West to Central and Eastern Africa, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) emerged in the United Republic of Tanzania in 2008 and has since been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Comoros. The disease can cause considerable morbidity and mortality in naïve sheep and goat populations and severely impact rural livelihoods, particularly those of women. Gaps in the knowledge of PPR epidemiology still exist, particularly around the role of small-ruminant movement and the role of the abundant wildlife in southern Africa. The capacity of veterinary services to undertake surveillance and control PPR is heterogeneous within the region, with vaccination being limited. The Pan African strategy for the control and eradication of PPR mirrors the Global Strategy and provides the framework for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to meet the 2030 goal of eradication. Five countries and one zone within Namibia are officially PPR free according to OIE Standards. Most countries have developed national strategies for the control and eradication of PPR. To strengthen national and regional PPR eradication programme goals, there is a need for a regional risk-based surveillance adapted to infected, high-risk and lower-risk countries that will enable targeted and efficient control, rapid response to incursions and prevention of spread as well as improved preparedness. Continued international and national support will be necessary including laboratory diagnostics and enhancing surveillance capacity to prevent further spread southwards on the continent.

Highlights

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) listed disease [1] caused by a morbillivirus resulting in variable respiratory and enteritis associated clinical disease in sheep and goat populations
Given the high morbidity and mortality of PPR infection in immune-naïve small ruminants, the economic and food security impact of outbreaks is large for small-holder farmers
Control and Eradication PPR Southern-Africa-Region of PPR-associated sheep and goat deaths for worldwide infected countries is estimated between 794 million and 2.7 billion US dollars [4]. This contagious viral disease has steadily expanded its geographical distribution from West into Eastern Africa and more recently to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) listed disease [1] caused by a morbillivirus resulting in variable respiratory and enteritis associated clinical disease in sheep and goat populations. SADC is the only region in sub-Saharan Africa with non-infected countries and plays an important role in facilitating the control and eradication of PPR in infected countries which will in turn reduce the risk of disease spread further south on the African continent. Zambia did detect PPR seropositive goats in recent years, though in the absence of clinical disease, suggesting either that antibodies were from imported vaccinated animals or previously infected (i.e., from Tanzania and/or DRC) or false positives (Bedane personal communication, roadmap meeting). Spatial epidemiology can include different types of data layers such as the presence of wildlife populations, roads, density of small ruminants, each weighted by expert knowledge [50] These risk assessments are important to inform policy development, contingency planning, and for allocating scarce resources to high-risk areas within countries [13]. PPR molecular diagnostic training and laboratory equipment and reagents are needed in the region

CONCLUSION

Findings

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT