Veterinary Preventive Medicine-II

DIAGNOSIS

Samples to be collected

• Live animals: Buccal and rectal mucosa, tears, whole blood (buffy coat), nasal secretions, faeces and gum debris.
• Dead animals: Oral mucosa, tonsils, lungs, small, large intestines and mesenteric lymphnodes.

Diagnosis is based on

• Classical clinical signs
• Virus isolation and identification in cell cultures
• Demonstration of viral antigen in buffy coat, body secretions, feces, lymphnode and tonsils by immunohistochemical methods, dot-ELISA, AGID and CIEP.
  • Note: unlike rinderpest, PPR viral antigen is still high in tissues of animals dying from the disease.
• Serology: Virus neutralization tests (VNT) and competitive ELISAs recommended serological tests by OIE.
• Complement Fixation Test and AGID are most commonly used. More recently cELISAs have been developed based on monoclonal antibodies specific for the N or H proteins of PPR and rinderpest viruses, and which enable differential diagnosis of the two viruses.