The disease and its impact
Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), also known as sheep and goat plague, is a highly contagious animal disease affecting domestic and wild small ruminants.
It is caused by a virus belonging to the genus Morbillivirus, family Paramixoviridae. Once newly introduced, the virus can infect up to 90 percent of an animal heard, and the disease kills anywhere up to 70 percent of infected animals. The PPR virus does not infect humans.
PPR was first described in 1942 in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Since then the disease has spread to large regions in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Today, more than 70 countries are affected or at high risk and many more are without an official PPR status. PPR infected and at risk countries are home to approximately 1.7 billion heads – around 80 percent – of the global population of sheep and goats.
PPR causes annual economic losses of up to USD 2.1 billion. Looking beyond this figure, 300 million families are at risk of losing their livelihoods, food security, and employment opportunities. Moreover, small ruminants and their products are internationally traded commodities, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. PPR considerably affects export earnings and creates supply shortages. The inability of families, communities, and institutions to anticipate, absorb, or recover from PPR can compromise national and regional development efforts, and turn back the clock on decades of progress.
A PPR outbreak is an emergency due to its rapid spread and high animal mortality rate. Fatal diseases of small ruminants, such as PPR, affect the already vulnerable livelihoods and can decimate the savings of poor populations, in particular in pastoral areas. People become desperate when they lose their assets. PPR outbreaks, and the desperation due to the loss, can therefore trigger turmoil, migration, and volatile security situations. Eradicating PPR will increase sustainability, alleviate poverty, improve the resilience of poor pastoralists and their communities, enable them to better cope with other shocks and threats, prevent forced migration and mitigate extremist trends.
As an example, Mongolia reported its first-ever PPR outbreaks in sheep and goat populations in September 2016. In the absence of an adequate response by local veterinary services, the disease rapidly spread, devastating rural livelihoods, and disrupting exports and value chains. In December 2016, PPR spilled over to wild antelope species killing up to 60% of the Saiga antelope population, a critically endangered species according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The importance of small ruminants
PPR was first described in 1942 in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Since then the disease has spread to large regions in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Today, more than 70 countries are affected or at high risk and many more are without an official PPR status. PPR infected and at risk countries are home to approximately 1.7 billion heads – around 80 percent – of the global population of sheep and goats.
PPR causes annual economic losses of up to USD 2.1 billion. Looking beyond this figure, 300 million families are at risk of losing their livelihoods, food security, and employment opportunities. Moreover, small ruminants and their products are internationally traded commodities, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. PPR considerably affects export earnings and creates supply shortages. The inability of families, communities, and institutions to anticipate, absorb, or recover from PPR can compromise national and regional development efforts, and turn back the clock on decades of progress.
A PPR outbreak is an emergency due to its rapid spread and high animal mortality rate. Fatal diseases of small ruminants, such as PPR, affect the already vulnerable livelihoods and can decimate the savings of poor populations, in particular in pastoral areas. People become desperate when they lose their assets. PPR outbreaks, and the desperation due to the loss, can therefore trigger turmoil, migration, and volatile security situations. Eradicating PPR will increase sustainability, alleviate poverty, improve the resilience of poor pastoralists and their communities, enable them to better cope with other shocks and threats, prevent forced migration and mitigate extremist trends.
As an example, Mongolia reported its first-ever PPR outbreaks in sheep and goat populations in September 2016. In the absence of an adequate response by local veterinary services, the disease rapidly spread, devastating rural livelihoods, and disrupting exports and value chains. In December 2016, PPR spilled over to wild antelope species killing up to 60% of the Saiga antelope population, a critically endangered species according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
