NIGERIA – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says Nuclear-derived techniques are helping scientist move closer to eradicating Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), safeguarding animal lives but also protecting farmers’ livelihoods.
First described in 1942, peste des petits ruminant (PPR) is considered one of the most highly contagious livestock diseases in Africa, Near East and Asia.
Traditional systems, where animals share watering holes and pastures, elevate the risk of virus transmission and perpetuate the spread through entire regions, causing a morbidity rate of up to 100 percent and a mortality rate of up to 90 percent in infected ruminants.
“The impact of PPR on small ruminant farming is huge. Most often we look at the impact in terms of economic losses. But I can say it is more than that,” said Ladi Amos Chabiri, a Senior Veterinary Research Officer from the National Veterinary Research Institute Vom, Nigeria.
Due to its symptoms clinical signs being similar to a many other small ruminant diseases, PPR can only be definitively diagnosed in a laboratory.
PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and ELISA (Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay) are two major diagnostic techniques that have been in existence for years and have been instrumental in the detection and control of animal diseases.
Veterinary laboratories with established capacity for these tests are in a better position to manage and control PPR and other similar diseases through the targeted implementation of vaccine programs.
The collaboration initiative between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VETLAB) Network, has contributed immensely to enhancing laboratory diagnostic capacities of Member Countries.
To date, VETLAB comprises 75 laboratories in 46 African and 19 Asian countries and is planning to expand to Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
One key facility is the National Veterinary Research Institute in Vom, Nigeria. According to Timothy Yusufu Woma, Head of the Mobillivirus Research Laboratory, “In terms of diagnostics, the reference laboratory here has the capacity for both serological and molecular diagnosis for PPR, and it receives samples from all over the country,” noted Woma.
The laboratory receives and processes 2 500 PPR samples annually, establishing itself as the leading PPR diagnostic support center for West African countries.
This pivotal role is supported through partnerships with FAO, WOAH and the African Union, coordinated in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Animal Health Center in Mali.
With the global goal of eradicating PPR by 2030, the Joint FAO /IAEA Centre has been conducting a series of national laboratory trainings.
In addition to Nigeria, trainings were conducted in Georgia, Jordan, Tanzania and Tunisia, bringing together over 80 participants from 41 countries.
