Assessment of the duration of maternal antibodies specific to the homologous peste des petits ruminant vaccine “Nigeria 75/1" in Djallonké lambs

The duration of maternal immunity was determined from 112 lambs born from vaccinated ewes with the homologous PPR vaccine “Nigeria 75/1" at day 90 and day 120 of pregnancy. Serum samples were collected from lambs starting from day 15 to day 150 after birth and analyzedusing the PPR specific competitive ELISA. At day 75 and day 90 after birth, 70% and 95% of these lambs respectively became negative. So it is recommended to vaccinate lambs against PPR in the interval from 75 to 90 days after birth

Diagnosis and surveillance of rinderpest using reverse transcription - PCR

PCR technique was used as an alternative method to detect evidence of rinderpest virus for diagnosis and in epidemiological surveys. Viral RNA was purified in 20 to 30 min using a commercial kit (RNaid (BIO 101). Primers used mapped in the nucleocapsid protein gene of rinderpest virus and gave specific and sensitive amplification from pathological samples. The size of the amplified fragment was 297 bp and the result was confirmed using internal non-radioactive probe SB1. The specificity of the PCRproducts was also confirmed by cleavage using restriction enzyme RsaI to give a major band of 200 bp

Comparison of two competitive ELISAs for the detection of specific peste-des-petits-ruminant antibodies in sheep and cattle populations

Peste-des-petits-ruminant (PPR) continues to be a major problem of small ruminants in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The closely related paramyxovirus causing rinderpest (RP) has been largely eradicated by a global vaccination campaign. However, PPR screening of large populations has lacked a sufficiently reliable, fast and cheap screening test. This study compares two commercially available PPR antibodies ELISA kits using serum collected from experimental sheep and cattle populations with four different vaccination histories for RP and PPR. The aim was to estimate the levels of cross-reaction between antibodies to the two diseases for each kit and their test parameters in the different populations. There was considerable variation between kits and between the different vaccination groups. There was a clear problem of cross-reaction in both PPR kits with RP positive sera. However, in areas where RP has been eradicated and vaccination stopped both tests could be useful for screening small ruminants for PPR