Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a disease of economic and veterinary importance leading to considerable economic losses. PPR affects small domestic and wild ruminants. Sheep and goats are the natural hosts of PPR but cattle, pigs, African buffaloes and camels are also affected by the PPR virus. Clinical signs seen are mainly fever, mucopurulent nasal and ocular discharges, cough, dyspnoea, gastroenteritis leading to severe diarrhoea. The post mortem lesions seen are congested lungs, congestion of gastrointestinal tract, especially the discontinuous streaks of congestion, which is referred to as Zebra stripes or Zebra markings, oedematous and congested retropharyngeal and mesenteric lymph nodes, linear haemorrhages in the intestinal mucosa and splenomegaly. PPR infection is characterized by a rise in packed cell volume (PCV), increase in haemoglobin concentration (HbC), leukopenia with lymphopenia. The serum alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities are elevated, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine concentrations are also elevated. The disease is also characterized by disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) evidenced by prolonged prothrombin time (PT), prolonged activated thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombocytopenia, and hypofibrinogenemia. In PPR infection, serum biomarkers of oxidative stress such as vitamins A, C, E and glutathione activity decreases while serum catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase and xanthine oxidase increase. Diagnostic techniques include histopathology, virus isolation, immunocapture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA), Competitive Enzyme Linked Imunnosorbent Assay (cELISA) and Combined Indirect ELISA (CI-ELISA) agar gel immunodiffusion, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), reverse transcription-loop mediated isothermal amplification assay (RT-LAMP), Luciferase immunoprecipitation system (LIPS) and immunohistochemistry. Therefore, this review focused on the aetiology, epidemiology, pathology, immunology, and disease status in Africa, diagnosis, control, prevention, treatment and control of this disease.

Background and Aim: Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an acute, extremely contagious transboundary viral disease of small ruminants with severe economic consequences, caused by PPR virus. Cost-effective and rapid diagnosis of the disease is essential for prompt management and control. This study aimed to compare the application of a commercial colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (cLAMP) kit and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the diagnosis of PPR in sheep and goats in Southeast Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Nasal swab samples were collected from West African Dwarf sheep and goats showing clinical signs suggestive of PPR (n=80) and those without any clinical signs (n=140) of the disease. The diagnosis was achieved through detection of PPR viral genome in the samples using a cLAMP kit and RT-PCR. cLAMP assay was done directly on nasal swab samples without ribosomal nucleic acid extraction. A set of six primers targeting the matrix gene protein was used for the cLAMP assay. Results: PPR viral genome was detected by both cLAMP and RT-PCR in 51 (63.8%) of the 80 samples from sheep and goats with signs suggestive of PPR while 14 (10%) of those without signs tested positive for PPR by both assay methods. There was a 100% agreement in the cLAMP and RT-PCR results. However, cLAMP was a faster, easier, and less expensive method compared to RT-PCR. Conclusion: The cLAMP assay demonstrates the potential for a point of care diagnosis in the field and a valuable diagnostic tool in areas with poor electricity supply as well as in a less equipped diagnostic laboratory. Since the reagents are affordable, cLAMP can be a diagnostic tool of choice in the detection and surveillance of PPR virus in countries with limited resources.

Small ruminants such as sheep and goats are highly susceptible to various parasitic infections, which can have a significant impact on their overall health and productivity. These parasites can cause a range of health issues, including the transmission of other diseases, and can also weaken the immune system of their hosts, leaving them more vulnerable to secondary bacterial infections. Hence, it is crucial to have a comprehensive understanding of the prevalence of these parasites for effective management of small ruminants and to prevent disease outbreaks. Therefore, the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites in small ruminants (sheep and goats) in Enugu North Senatorial Zone, Enugu State, Nigeria, was determined. A total of 120 faecal samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of gastrointestinal parasites using standard laboratory techniques. The parasite eggs were identified based on their morphological features using a parasitological atlas. An overall occurrence rate of 40% (n = 48) was recorded. Based on species, an occurrence rate of 40.2% (n = 45) and 37.5% (n = 3) were obtained for goats and sheep, respectively. Among the parasites detected, strongyles had the highest rate of occurrence (85.42%; n = 41), while the parasites with the least occurrence were paramphistomum and trichuris (2%; n = 1), respectively. The parasite had the highest occurrence in the males (ram: 50% and buck: 50%), 4½-year-old (52%) animals, and as a single infection (67%). Chi-square analysis showed that there was no association (p > 0.01) between the occurrence rate in relation to species, sex, age, and type of infection, but a significant difference was found between breed and occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites.

This study investigated the efficacy of different chemotherapeutic regimes in the treatment of rats experimentally infected with diminazene aceturate-resistant strain Trypanosoma brucei brucei. Thirty Sprague Dawley male rats used for the study were randomly assigned to six groups of five rats eachas follows: group A-uninfected untreated (negative control), group B-infected and untreated (positive control), groups C-F were infected and treated with 1.0 mg/kg isometamidum chloride, administered intramuscularly on day 11 post-infection. However, rats in groups D, E and F received further treatments with 700 mg/kg sodium-ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid, 0.4 mg/kg verapamil and 3 mg/kg chlorpromazine, respectively, administered orally for four days. Clearance of parasite post-treatment (PT), mortality PT, relapse parasitaemia post-clearance, body weight change, rectal temperature, packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (HB) concentration and red blood cell count (RBC) were determined during the experiment. Result showed parasite clearance PT of 100% in groups D and E, 80% in group F and 20% in group C by 24 hours PT. The infection relapsed on day 35 PT in 40% of rats in group C, on day 37 PT in 20% of rats in group F and lastly 20% of rats in groups D and E on day 39 PT. Rats that received drug combination showed marginal improvement in erythrocytic parameters analysed when compared with those treatment with isometamidium alone. Combination therapy showed faster clearance of parasite from the blood and also prolonged relapse post-clearance, thus had a better promising efficacy when compared to using isometamiduim chloride alone.