ASSESSMENT OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF PESTE DES PETITS RUMINANTS (PPR) AND POST VACCINAL SEROCONVERSION RATE OF PPR-VIRUS IN SMALL RUMINANTS OF AWASH FENTALE WOREDA, AFAR NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

FARIS, DELIL; Dr. Berhe Gebreegziabher

ASSESSMENT OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF PESTE DES PETITS RUMINANTS (PPR) AND POST VACCINAL SEROCONVERSION RATE OF PPR-VIRUS IN SMALL RUMINANTS OF AWASH FENTALE WOREDA, AFAR NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

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FARIS DELIL 2007.pdf (942.58 KB)

Date

2007-06

Authors

FARIS, DELIL

Dr. Berhe Gebreegziabher

Abstract

A study was conducted in small ruminants in Awash Fentale Woreda Afar National Regional State, from September 2006 to June 2007, to determine seroprevalence of peste des petits ruminants, to investigate outbreak of the disease and assess postvaccinal seroconversion to the virus. From a total of 1,239 small ruminants, 879 goats and 360 sheep sampled 21(1.70%) animals were found to be positive using competitive ELISA. The seroprevalence in goats was 2.28% and in sheep 0.28%. The difference in the seroprevalence rate of PPR between goats and sheep was statistically significant (p<0.05). The overall and the village level seroprevalence were very small but since animals included in this study had no history of PPR vaccination, the seroprevalence result indicated the circulation of the virus in the population. In addition to its importance in detecting the virus circulation, this seroprevalence study indicated indirectly the poor herd immunity level. A number of small ruminants in the area, which were not vaccinated, showed characteristic symptoms of PPR and serological result from these groups was higher than the previous seroprevalence report. From 238 small ruminants (197 goats and 41 sheep) sampled from suspected outbreak, 84 (42.6%) goats and only 3 (7.3%) sheep were found to be seropositive. The seroprevalence between sheep and goats was statistically different (p<0.05). Animal health professionals and CAHWs vaccinated small ruminants in the study area against PPR. Among the vaccinated small ruminants a total of 1,096 were resampled from the same villages to see sroconversion. The seroconversion estimate of animals vaccinated was 61.1% but there was difference between sheep and goats. The rate of postvaccinal seroconversion in goats (68%) was higher and statistically different (p<0.05) compared with sheep (47.6%). But no difference in the post vaccinal seroconversion rate was seen between animals vaccinated by professional animal health workers and CAHWs (p>0.05).