What is Peste des petits ruminants (PPR)?

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), also known as’goat plague’, is a viral disease of goats and sheep characterized by fever, sores in the mouth, diarrhea, pneumonia, and sometimes death.

It is caused by a morbillivirus in the family of paramyxoviruses, that is related to rinderpest, measles and canine distemper. Cattle and several wild ruminants have been infected most often experimentally, but goats and sheep are the usual targets. PPR is a disease listed in the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code, and countries are obligated to report the disease to the OIE according to the criteria (OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code).