This paper presents the results of a seroepidemiological study carried out between July 2006 and March 2007 to detect the presence of antibodies to peste des petits ruminants (PPR) virus in randomly collected serum samples from sheep and goats in southern peninsular India. The authors used a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with a monoclonal antibody developed against a neutralising epitope of the haemagglutinin (HA) protein of the virus. A total of 1,492 sheep sera and 2,068 goat sera collected from the six southern Indian states were screened. It was determined that 41.35% of the sheep sera and 34.91% of the goat sera were positive for the presence of antibody. The study indicated an extensive endemicity of the disease in these states, which is attributed to the agro-climatic conditions and the migration of livestock. KeywordsCompetitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay -Indian peninsula -Peste des petits ruminants -Seroepidemiology.

INTRODUCTIONIn standard normal theory, the statistical procedures are developed under one of the classical assumptions that the underlying parent populatlons are normal in form. The basic reason for this is the spherical symmetry which characterizes normal distribution and the fact that excellent theoretical results can be obtained under normality. In view of the relative abundance of theoretical results in the normal case, there is undoubtedly a temptation to regard any distribution as normal, unless proven otherwise, and to use standard statistical procedures whenever possible. However, experience with real life data reveals that parent populations ocurring in many substantive fields do not, generally, behave in a normal fashion. This fact was recognized long ago by Kepteyn (1903, 1916), Karl Pearson (1905, 1906a and Student (1908 a, b), among others. In this context, the following hyperbolic remarks of Geary (1947b) strike