Rinderpest Eradication Research Articles

The politics of rinderpest control on the Kenya–Tanganyika border, c. 1920–1940

ABSTRACT During the interwar period, Kenyan and Tanganyikan veterinarians sought to control rinderpest, Africa’s most dangerous cattle disease, with competing methods of vaccination. Tanganyikans used blood serums and quarantines, aiming to eradicate the virus, increase African herds, and above all protect the cattle of southern African settlers. Kenyan veterinarians, favoring settler cattle, used live virus alongside serums, believing that rinderpest in African reserves could not be eliminated because of proximity to wildlife carriers and an uncontrolled northern border. While Maasai pastoralists along the inter-territorial border preferred the Kenyan approach as less threatening to their livestock, they were forced to accommodate divergent methods of rinderpest control. Severe drought and historic claims to Tanganyikan pastures brought some Kenyan Maasai and their cattle across the border, undermining rinderpest controls and Tanganyikan Maasai land rights – sparking rinderpest epidemics that challenged Tanganyikan eradication measures. Vaccine breakthroughs after 1930 failed to stanch rinderpest, often carried by wildlife, while perceptions of an emergent Dust Bowl made some key officials sympathetic to cattle culling through disease. Drawing on archival sources, the article shows that despite protocols emphasizing cooperation, political disagreements and territorial disputes between British colonies frustrated the eradication of rinderpest in East Africa for another generation.

THE FIRST ANIMAL DISEASE TO BE ERADICATED IN THE HISTORY OF PANDEMIC- RINDERPEST

We talk about the worst pandemics in history, like Plague of Justinian (541-543), Black Death (1347-1351), Spanish flu (1918-1919), SARS (2002-2003), swine flu (009-2010), MERS (2015- ongoing) and COVID-19 (2019- ongoing) etc., that have worn out half of the human population. What about the animals? Are they not victims of these pandemics? Yes, they were also, witnessing many zoonotic diseases such as rinderpest disease, avian influenza, food-and-mouth disease virus, etc., that led to massive killings that wore out half their population. This paper will give a brief history on Rinderpest virus that afflicted animals throughout history. While it did not infect humans it severely affected their livelihoods. Rinderpest disease- ‘Cattle Plague’, was a devastating disease of livestock responsible for continent-wide famine and poverty (14). In 2011 with UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health declaring globe eradication of rinderpest; only the second in history to be eradicated after smallpox in humans in 1980 (1). Through Longitudinal and Exploratory methodology this paper also provides a detailed history of Rinderpest from its origin to turning into the worst pandemic that changed the outcome of history, majorly affected regions/continents around the globe from decades, symptoms, role-played by various organizations in putting efforts into eradicating this disease and concludes with an overview of this pandemic.

The eradication of rinderpest in China

The eradication of rinderpest in China

Comparative study of HA and HNB staining RT-LAMP assays for peste des petits ruminants virus detection in West African Dwarf goats.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) cause severe economic losses to many countries of the world where the disease is endemic. It has been targeted for global eradication by 2030 following the successful eradication of rinderpest in 2011. The proposed eradication program would benefit from efficient and relatively reliable diagnostic tools for early PPR virus (PPRV) detection. A total of 33 eight to 12 months old West African Dwarf (WAD) goats were used. Nineteen goats infected by commingling with two PPR virus-positive animals formed the infected group (PPRV-infected goats) while 14 non-infected goats formed the control group (CTG). The suitability of hydroxyl naphthol blue (HNB) staining of reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) and haemagglutination (HA) assays was compared for their sensitivity to detect the PPRV in PPRV-infected goats and non-infected CTG. PPR disease severity in WAD goats at different days post infection (dpi) was evaluated by clinical scoring and haemagglutination titre (HAT). HNB staining RT-LAMP reaction and HA showed sensitivities of 100% and 73.68%, respectively, for PPRV detection. Expression of PPR clinical signs began from 3 dpi, attained peak at 5 dpi, thereafter showed irregular patterns till 24 dpi. Evaluation of HAT in PPRV-infected goats at 12 dpi ranged from 2 to 64 haemagglutination units (HAU), while CTG goats had 0 HAU. In conclusion, HA could be a good tool for rapid diagnosis of PPRV in a developing country setting. However, HNB staining RT-LAMP assay demonstrated high sensitivity for accurate diagnoses of PPRV and as an important diagnostic tool when precise phenotyping is desired.

Lessons from Rinderpest Eradication with Reference to COVID-19 Pandemic Management.

Lessons from Rinderpest Eradication with Reference to COVID-19 Pandemic Management.

Politics of COVID-19: Political Epidemiology of and Pandemics

“Medicine is a social science, and politics nothing but medicine at a larger scale”Rudolf VirchowRudolf Virchow was convinced that social inequality was a root cause of ill-health, therefore, social science including political power is required to balance such inequality so that diseases can be prevented and controlled. Recent public health successes such as eradication of small pox, rinderpest and elimination of polio and guinea worm infestation, show that adequate political action has often been required before effective public health policies and interventions could be implemented. One of the pillars for success of any policy or, health program is political support and commitment. This is true for disasters including epidemics and pandemics. For their mitigation and preparedne, resource mobilization is one of the vital activities where government plays a crucial role. Many a time government may not be able to provide sufficient resources but channelizing and controlling their use is an important activity which is performed by the government officials. How to cite this article:Kishore J. Politics of COVID-19: Political Epidemiology of Pandemics. Epidem Int 2020; 5(4): 1-4.

Comparison of Immunogenicity and Protective Efficacy of PPR Live Attenuated Vaccines (Nigeria 75/1 and Sungri 96) Administered by Intranasal and Subcutaneous Routes.

Following the successful eradication of rinderpest, the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have set a goal to eradicate peste des petits ruminants (PPR) globally by 2030. Vaccination is being taken forward as the key strategy along with epidemiological surveillance to target vaccination efforts and eradicate the disease. PPR is highly contagious and is generally spread by aerosolized droplets and close contact. Currently, two live attenuated vaccines (Nigeria 75/1 and Sungri 96) are in use, and administered subcutaneously to prevent transmission of PPR and protect vaccinated animals. Though the target cells that support primary replication of PPR vaccine strains are largely unknown, it is hypothesized that the immune response could be intensified following intranasal vaccine delivery as this route mimics the natural route of infection. This study aims to compare the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the two currently available live attenuated PPR vaccines following subcutaneous and intranasal routes of vaccination in target species. Groups of five goats were vaccinated with live attenuated PPR vaccines (Nigeria 75/1 and Sungri 96) by either the subcutaneous or intranasal route, and 28 days later challenged intranasally with virulent PPR virus. All vaccinated animals regardless of vaccination route produced PPRV-specific antibodies post-vaccination. Following challenge, all goats were protected from clinical disease, and vaccination was considered to have induced sterilizing immunity. This study demonstrates that the intranasal route of vaccination is as effective as the subcutaneous route of vaccination when using available live attenuated PPR vaccines.

Epidemiological Survey of Peste des Petits Ruminants in Ethiopia: Cattle as Potential Sentinel for Surveillance.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious viral disease of small ruminants; it emerged in countries previously free of the disease following the eradication of rinderpest. PPR is classified by international organizations as the next priority animal disease for global eradication campaign. Assessment of the local situations is the first step in the eradication efforts. The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the seroprevalence of PPR in cattle, sheep, and goats under two livestock production systems in Ethiopia: North Shewa zone of Amhara region represents a highland sedentary life style characterized by mixed livestock-crop production system; Zone Three of Afar region represents a lowland nomadic life style characterized by pastoral livestock production system. N-competitive ELISA PPR test was performed on sera from 2,993 animals ≥6 months old sampled at watering and grazing points. Multivariable logistic regression models comparing the seropositivity between the two production systems were built by classifying doubtful results as positive, negative, or excluding them from the data. The odds ratio (OR) comparing overall PPR seroprevalence in the sedentary North Shewa Zone compared to the nomadic Zone Three ranged from 19 to 27 (P < 0.001), depending on how doubtful results were classified, which contrasts with what has been reported in the literature. This is not likely to be related solely to vaccination, since seroprevalences in cattle and small ruminants were similarly high or low in the respective zones (0–4% for Zone Three and 20–40% for North Shewa Zone), and cattle were not likely to be vaccinated. The OR of seropositivity for goats compared to cattle ranged from 1.9 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3–2.7; P < 0.001] to 2.2 (95% CI: 1.5–3.1; P < 0.001) when doubtful results were excluded or classified as negative, respectively. When doubtful results were classified as positive, association between seropositivity and animal species was not significant (P > 0.05). Our results suggest to further investigate cattle as sentinel animals for PPR surveillance.

Assessing the efficacy of autogenous vaccines in bovine diseases

Vaccination is an important tool for preventing disease. In human medicine and veterinary health, the eradication of smallpox and rinderpest are stellar examples of how effective vaccinations can be. Other outstanding examples include vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella in humans. In animal health, most vaccines are marketed broadly for use on multiple animals and farms. However, autogenous vaccines, which are intended for use on a single farm, are also common in livestock health worldwide. For this presentation, I discuss concepts related to assessing the efficacy of vaccines and provide a summary of the publicly available evidence from the scientific literature regarding the efficacy of autogenous vaccines.

A Global PPR Network for Field Staff.

Among the lessons learned from rinderpest eradication was that networks developed for laboratory testing for diagnosis and for serological assays for rinderpest virus antibody proved very valuable to the final success of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme. The Joint Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) co-ordinated perhaps the best known of these networks across Africa. This network successfully built and supported a team of skilled laboratory staff across the continent who knew, trusted and collaborated with one another, and from which many individuals progressed to important positions in national, regional, and global animal disease control. The value of such networks for PPR control and eradication, as well as collaboration between laboratories in general, encouraged two meetings of the Global PPR Research Alliance (GPRA) after which the FAO and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) established a Global Research and Expertise Network (GREN) as an integral part of the PPR-Global Eradication Programme. The background and potential of GREN was explored and developed during an electronic conference held in February to April 2014 and GREN was launched at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna in April 2018. The author contributed to the first meeting of the GPRA, and subsequently, as moderator of the e-conference in 2014, had first-hand access to individual inputs and ideas and drafted the final report. He presented a summary of these and additional findings at the launch of GREN in 2018. This paper re-caps some of the findings and concepts in those presentations and reports. It then makes the case that whilst GREN should actively encourage and develop technical networking at the laboratory level it should not miss the opportunity to establish an equivalent programme for staff involved in field operations.

Quantifying Levels of Peste Des Petits Ruminants (PPR) Virus in Excretions from Experimentally Infected Goats and Its Importance for Nascent PPR Eradication Programme.

Following the successful eradication of rinderpest, the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have set a goal to globally eradicate Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) by 2030. To support the eradication programme we have quantified the levels of PPR virus (PPRV) nucleic acid excreted in body fluids (blood, feces, saliva, nasal and eye swabs) of PPRV-infected goats to ascertain which days post-infection animals are potentially infectious, and hence direct quarantine activities. The data will also indicate optimal sample strategies to assess presence of PPR infection in the naturally infected herd. Peak PPRV nucleic acid detection in different bodily fluids was between 5 and 10 days post-infection. As such, this period must be considered the most infectious period for contact transmission, although high viral load was observed through RNA detection in nasal excretions from two days post-infection until at least two weeks post-infection. Percentage sample positivity was low both in eye swabs and saliva samples during the early stage of infection although RNA was detected as late as two weeks post-infection. From the individual animal data, PPRV was detected later post-infection in fecal material than in other body fluids and the detection was intermittent. The results from this study indicate that nasal swabs are the most appropriate to sample when considering molecular diagnosis of PPRV.

Rinderpest eradication from India: Impact on agriculture sector

Rinderpest with its devastating history on the livestock (LS) sector has a positive legacy in the creation of first veterinary school in Lyon, Paris, in 1762 and Indian Civil Veterinary Services in 1891. Rinderpest was also instrumental for the establishment of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE): The World Organization for Animal Health in 1924 in Paris. The research on rinderpest in India started with the establishment of Imperial Bacteriological Laboratory (IBL) at Mukteswar in 1893, now known as Indian Veterinary Research Institute. The disease caused serious destruction of large ruminants (cattle and buffaloes), small ruminants (sheep and goats) and pigs, adversely affecting LS production and cattle/buffalo-driven agricultural operations in Indian villages affecting crop production besides causing colossal losses to milk and meat production. In India, rinderpest was endemic from 1900 to 1950, and in its classical form, the disease caused 80–90% mortality among cattle and buffaloes. The new era in the fight to control rinderpest in India started with the development of attenuated goat tissue rinderpest virus vaccine in 1920 by J.T. Edwards, which protected animals from rinderpest for whole of their life. This vaccine was used universally to combat rinderpest in Asian, African and European countries. Subsequently, lapinised, avianised, lapinised-avianised viruses and rinderpest tissue culture vaccines were developed for usage, but it was rinderpest tissue culture vaccine that successfully replaced goat tissue rinderpest vaccine.

Eradication of Rinderpest from Poland in 1921-1922

Due to Rinderpest disease (cattle plague) in Poland, over 40,000 cattle died within the three months of the first half of 1920. Stopping the epizooty of rinderpest (pestis bovum; cattle plague; Typhus bovum contagiosus) spreading from Russia should be considered one of the greatest scientific, organizational and economic achievements of the reviving Polish statehood. Rinderpest is a highly contagious, viral disease caused by the Rinderpest virus, which leads to the death of over 90% of infected animals. Rinderpest virus damages lymphoid cells and the epithelial cell layer of the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, genital tract and external- -secretory glands (lacrimal glands, mucous glands, salivary glands). Within a few days after infection, animals begin presenting symptoms of sepsis and dehydration caused by necrotic and hemorrhagic lesions of the gastrointestinal tract. In order to stop the epizooty of bovine disease, the Ministry of Agriculture and State Goods ordered Dr. Feliks Jaroszyński to organize a rinderpest field station. The station was established in the forester’s lodge, in Michałówka near Puławy. The station produced anti-rinderpest serum and a rinderpest vaccine. In the peak period of operation, 2000 L of vaccine was produced each month. Vaccination of cattle carried out in the area endangered by rinderpest prevented the epidemic in 1922 and protected Poland and Europe from enormous losses. Knowledge about this unprecedented scientific, organizational and economic enterprise is not widely known, which neglects Poland’s pioneering contribution to preventing the epidemic of rinderpest. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced in 2010 that the world is free of the disease caused by the Rinderpest virus belonging to the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Morbillivirus.

Elimination of dog-mediated human rabies: the burden of human rabies in Africa.

Hope exists for the elimination of dog-mediated human rabies in Africa. Momentum is gathering towards this goal, with an increasing number of successful demonstration projects showing that elimination is feasible. The Pan African Rabies Control Network is bringing Africa together against rabies, supported by the World Health Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which have a combined resolution to eliminate human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies by 2030. Furthermore, the inspiring examples of both rinderpest and smallpox eradication hold all the elements necessary to have confidence that this momentum can lead to success. Smallpox and rinderpest, whose last battles were fought on the African continent, highlight the simple fact that once the primary tools are available (such as vaccines), by far the greatest challenges lie within the realm of implementation. Science can effectively argue the subtleties of virology, immunology, vaccinology, etc. but it often fails to describe the science of implementation. In the face of other major diseases and socio-economic difficulties, rabies is not perceived as a threat by many African countries, despite the fact that the burden of the disease has been shown to be extensive. The challenge of mobilising mass interventions requires leadership and fortitude within resource-poor, infrastructurally challenged, politically uninterested and often bureaucratically restricted environments. Continent-wide elimination remains a daunting prospect for investors, who often lack insight into environmental disease dynamics, which is essential for enabling the implementation of strategic, community-based interventions. Implementation in Africa needs to be seen through African eyes. It needs local community support, and it needs effective transport and procurement systems and systems of self-development with a view to sustainability. The Aidto- Africa model needs to be replaced by a model that empowers communities to act, demonstrates that success is possible and stimulates the expansion of control efforts.

Development and validation of an epitope-blocking ELISA using an anti-haemagglutinin monoclonal antibody for specific detection of antibodies in sheep and goat sera directed against peste des petits ruminants virus.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a contagious and economically important disease affecting production of small ruminants (i.e., sheep and goats). Taking into consideration the lessons learnt from the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP), PPR is now targeted by the international veterinary community as the next animal disease to be eradicated. To support the African continental programme for the control of PPR, the Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre of the African Union (AU-PANVAC) is developing diagnostics tools. Here, we describe the development of a blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bELISA) that allows testing of a large number of samples for specific detection of antibodies directed against PPR virus in sheep and goat sera. The PPR bELISA uses an anti-haemagglutinin (H) monoclonal antibody (MAb) as a competitor antibody, and tests results are interpreted using the percentage of inhibition (PI) of MAb binding generated by the serum sample. PI values below or equal to 18% (PI ≤ 18%) are negative, PI values greater than or equal to 25% (PI ≥ 25%) are positive, and PI values greater than 18% and below 25% are doubtful. The diagnostic specificity (DSp) and diagnostic sensitivity (DSe) were found to be 100% and 93.74%, respectively. The H-based PPR-bELISA showed good correlation with the virus neutralization test (VNT), the gold standard test, with a kappa value of 0.947. The H-based PPR-bELISA is more specific than the commercial kit ID Screen® PPR Competition (N-based PPR-cELISA) from IDvet (France), but the commercial kit is slightly more sensitive than the H-based PPR-bELISA. The validation process also indicated good repeatability and reproducibility of the H-based PPR-bELISA, making this new test a suitable tool for the surveillance and sero-monitoring of the vaccination campaign.

Update on Veterinary Viral Vaccines: A Review

Vaccine has made a very significant impact on the control of viral diseases in both humans and animal species. Worldwide eradication of small pox and rinderpest an d drastic reduction in other infection disease are confirming to the fact that vaccination is the most feasible and cost effective strategy for prevention, control and eradication of infectious disease. Veterinary science has made a significant contributio n to the field of vaccine research and development. Among the numerous of infectious diseases in animals, those of viral etiology account for a high burden of cases and they are the most relevant from a veterinary perspective. So, vaccination is the most f easible means that has to be implemented for controlling and eradicating these diseases. The viral vaccines used in veterinary medicine generally categorized into 1 of 3 categories: inactivated vaccines (in which antigens are typically combined with adjuva nts); live attenuated vaccines; and recombinant technology vaccines, which may include subunit antigens or genetically engineered organisms. The majority of vaccines available today rely either on attenuation (weakening) techniques or inactivated (killed) forms of the infectious agent. Even though many vaccines are available and vaccine producing technologies are existed, several viral disease s have no vaccines yet and there are also limitations even on existing vaccines. Therefore, the objective of this seminar paper is to overview the development of veterinary viral vaccines and challenges and opportunities existing in the process of its deve lopment. To be profitable from the veterinary viral vaccines the challenging factors for the development of the vaccines should be managed. In addition, the novel vaccine technologies should be encouraged because they can fill the limitations of convention al live and killed vaccines.

Rinderpest eradication: challenges for remaining disease free and implications for future eradication efforts.

In 2011, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) declared global freedom from rinderpest, formally announcing that rinderpest virus infections had been eliminated from susceptible livestock populations. At the same time, it was recognised that rinderpest virus, and material containing rinderpest virus, remained stored in an unspecified number of facilities across the world. Although natural infections had been eliminated, there remained a risk that rinderpest could reoccur if such infectious material accidentally leaked or was intentionally released from one of these facilities into a susceptible animal population. To minimise this risk, the OIE and FAO, with the support of international partners, set in place a framework to: reduce the quantity of remaining rinderpest-virus-containing material; ensure that such material was only stored in high-security facilities; regulate any handling or manipulation of the virus; maintain vigilance amongst livestock keepers and Veterinary Services in the post-eradication era; and develop contingency plans to deal with any suspected or actual reoccurrence of rinderpest disease. In 2016, five years after the declaration of global freedom from rinderpest, official reports to the OIE show that virus and virus-containing material remain stored in 21 countries worldwide in 22 separate facilities, of which only five have been inspected and approved for holding rinderpest virus or vaccine. There is still much work to be done to further reduce the risk of a reoccurrence.

Isolation, identification and retrospective study of foot-and-mouth disease virus from affected Mithun (Bos frontalis) in north-eastern India.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a contagious disease of cloven-hoofed animals that causes substantial and perpetual economic loss. Apart from the contagious nature of the disease, the FMD virus can establish in a "carrier state" among all cloven-hoofed animals. The Mithun (Bos frontalis), popularly called the "Cattle of Mountain," is found in the geographically isolated, hilly region of north-east India: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. Despite the geographical inaccessibility, infection by FMD virus has emerged as the single most devastating disease among Mithun after the eradication of rinderpest from this region. Samples from outbreaks of FMD in Mithun were analysed by sandwich ELISA, multiplex RT-PCR (MRT-PCR) and liquid-phase blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and isolated in the BHK-21 cell line. The results indicate the presence of FMDV serotype "O." The sequencing and molecular phylogenies have revealed close relationships in the lineage of type "O" isolates from Bangladesh. The findings will provide useful information for further research and development of a sustainable programme for the progressive control of FMD in the Mithun population.

Livestock vaccination in India: an analysis of theory and practice among multiple stakeholders

An effective and efficient disease prevention and control strategy is of paramount importance to improve the quality and quantity of livestock production in the Indian context. Although livestock vaccination is considered an emerging innovation of socioeconomic importance in the Indian dairy industry, the rate of adoption and diffusion of vaccination technology is very low at field level. In this context, the authors examined the efforts of the Government of India to protect livestock health and control disease, considered the lessons learnt from rinderpest eradication, looked at field practices and the reality on the ground, and studied the perceptions of multiple stakeholders with regards to the relevance, profitability and sustainability of vaccination. In this study, the authors consider policy implications for the Indian dairy industry using the responses of 360 dairy farmers, 80 research scientists and 40 extension workers in India. The study revealed that scientists and extension experts rated vaccination highly in terms of its relevance, profitability and sustainability, while the perception of farmers was less favourable. The study also observed that, even after implementation of various disease control programmes with heavy financial expenditure, there was a wide gap between farmers and scientists and between farmers and extension workers with regards to their perceptions of the relevance, profitability and sustainability of vaccination, while the gap was very narrow between scientists and extension workers. It can be concluded, therefore, that there is a need to generate innovations for disease control that are perceived as relevant, profitable and sustainable so as to encourage higher levels of diffusion and adoption at field level. This study recommends that farmers partner with researchers and extension workers to ensure effective generation and transfer of new dairying technologies, leading to higher production and productivity in the Indian dairy sector.

Peste des petits ruminants diagnosis and diagnostic tools at a glance: perspectives on global control and eradication.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious, economically important viral disease of small ruminants, targeted for global eradication by the year 2030. The recent geographic surge in PPR virus distribution, economic implications, the success of the rinderpest eradication campaign, and ongoing national/regional efforts convinced the FAO and OIE to initiate a global PPR control and eradication strategy. Since its discovery, a series of diagnostic tools have been developed for detecting PPR virus and virus-specific antibodies. Furthermore, it is understood that diagnostic and vaccine-monitoring tools are inevitable components of the four-stage strategy of global PPR eradication from assessment to the post-eradication phase. However, these tools may not be suitable for all stages of PPR control and eradication. For instance, diagnostics such as ELISA could be used for mass screening of clinical and serum samples, whereas immunochromatographic tests can be used at the field level as a pen-side test. Yet, assays with higher sensitivity, such as RT-PCR, RT-PCR ELISA, real-time RT-PCR and LAMP are important for early diagnosis of PPR and also, theoretically, during the late stages of eradication or when sampling non-natural hosts. Moreover, during the later stages of any control program, suspected/doubtful outbreaks will have to be reconfirmed using multiple laboratory tests. Hence, diagnostics can and should be efficiently applied at different stages of the PPR control and eradication campaign based on available resources and the number of samples to be tested. This article provides an overview of the various PPR diagnostic tools and suggests where and how they should be logically applied during the different phases of global PPR control and eradication.