The Experimental Infection of Goats with Small Ruminant Morbillivirus Originated from Barbary Sheep

Abstract

Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) is a transboundary contagious disease in domestic small ruminants. Infections with the small ruminant morbillivirus (SRMV) were regularly found in wildlife, with unknown roles in PPR epidemiology. In order to access infection dynamics and virulence, we infected German Edelziege goats intranasally with a SRMV isolate that originated from Barbary sheep from an outbreak in the United Arab Emirates. Six goats were infected with cell culture-isolated SRMV, and two goats were kept in contact. Goats were daily monitored, and clinical score was recorded. EDTA blood, nasal, conjunctival and rectal swab samples were collected for the detection of SRMV genome load and serum for serological analysis. Short incubation period in infected (4 to 5 dpi) as well as in contact goats (9 dpi) was followed by typical clinical signs related to PPR. The highest viral load was detectable in conjunctival and nasal swab samples with RT-qPCR and rapid pen-side test. Specific antibodies were detected at 7 dpi in infected and 14 dpi in contact goats. In general, high virulence and easy transmission of the virus originated from wildlife in domestic goats was observed. The virus isolate belongs to Asian lineage IV, genetically related to Chinese and Mongolian strains.

A Clinical, Pathological, Epidemiological and Molecular Investigation of Recent Outbreaks of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus in Domestic and Wild Small Ruminants in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates

“…Based on N gene sequence analysis, the UAE-PPRV strains from goats and dama gazelle obtained in this study shares identity between 97% to 98% among them and 98–99% when compared to recently sequence from Barberry sheep detected in UAE [ 25 ], shown in Table 3 .…”

“…Based on F gene sequence analysis, the UAE PPRV strains sequences are 99–100% identical, but share an identity of 98–99% with recently sequenced Barberry sheep detected in UAE [ 25 ], shown in Table 4 .…”

“…Each sequence of the N gene or F gene was aligned with their corresponding PPRV curated sequences recently published [ 6 ] which are available in the PPR Network online page ( , accessed on 13 December 2022). A newly published sequence from the UAE wildlife (GenBank: OM867572.1) [ 25 ] is also included in the phylogenetic tree. The MEGA X program [ 38 ] was used to construct the phylogenetic tree using the Maximum Likelihood method and the General Time Reversible model [ 39 ], with 1000 Bootstrap confidence.…”

“…Current diagnostic methods for suspected PPR cases include clinical, pathological examinations and laboratory confirmation using molecular tests such as real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and traditional reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The viral lineage is typically determined by sequencing a portion of the nucleocapsid or the fusion protein genes or by whole genome sequencing [ 25 ].…”

“…Another report also described PPRV in Arabian wildlife in the UAE in 2009, which was caused by the Asian lineage IV virus [ 18 ]. In 2022, another study from experimental infection of goats with PPRV originated from Barbary Sheep in the UAE was also described the virus within Asian lineage IV [ 25 ]. Since 2005, a total of 62 outbreaks of PPR in small ruminants and wildlife species in the UAE have been reported to the WOAH [ 31 , 32 ].…”