Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious viral disease that affects small ruminants. The disease has a severe rate of morbidity and mortality for many domestic and wild animals, including sheep, goats, deer and antelope. The virus is found primarily in Africa, the Middle East and Asia and has most recently been detected in Southern Europe. While humans face no danger from the virus, 80 percent of the world’s goat and sheep live in parts of the world where they are at risk of contracting the disease and where the livelihoods of an estimated 900 million people rely upon these animals.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) embarked on a joint mission five years ago to eradicate PPR by 2030. A research partnership originating in the University of Connecticut Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science (PVS) is now poised to join this global fight.
Guillermo Risatti, an associate professor in PVS, is coordinating an international research team with the support of a $1.6 million grant award from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), an agency within the United States Department of Defense (DoD), to detect and monitor PPR in Armenia and Georgia. The two-year biosurveillance project aims at aligning their activities with the FAO and OIE joint strategy to combat the disease.
“This disease is widespread,” says Risatti. “It has affected many sheep and goats, which are an important source of food and an economic resource, especially for the poor, in these regions of the world. The FAO and OIE are invested in efforts in eradicating the disease. There is agreement that this virus is a serious problem.”
