The Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) has recently affected the cattle at Hadsar pasture near Tindi of Lahaul-Spiti of Himachal Pradesh.

What is Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR)?

• Peste des Petits Ruminants is a highly contagious disease that mainly affects goats, camels, sheeps and small ruminants.
• It is caused by a virus of the family paramyxoviridae and genus morbillivirus.
• It is closely related to other members of the genus, including the rinderpest virus, measles virus, and canine distemper virus.
• It is characterized by severe morbidity and mortality rates. The virus does not infect humans.
• Symptom includes oral necrosis, mucopurulent nasal and ocular discharges, cough, pneumonia, and diarrhea.

Transmission

• PPR is mainly spread during close contact when a susceptible animal inhales the virus from infected animals’ coughing and sneezing.
• Transmission can also occur indirectly through contact with infected objects (fomites) such as feed troughs, bedding etc.
• A short term infection due to fomites such as such as pasture and water troughs, feed and bedding Feeding in a group
• Sources of PPRV include secretions from the eyes, nose, and mouth of infected animals, as well as their faeces.
• Once introduced, the virus can infect up to 90 percent of an animal herd, and the disease kills anywhere from 30 to 70 percent of infected animals.
• More research is needed to understand its transmission in other species, such as camels and antelope

NOTE-

• PPR was first described in 1942 in Côte d’lvoire. Since then the disease has spread to large regions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
• Today, more than 70 countries have confirmed PPR within their orders, and many countries are at risk of the disease being introduced.
• In India highest instances of this disease are reported from Himachal Pradesh.
• Other states are Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.