Seroprevalence of peste des petits ruminants among unvaccinated small ruminants in Sokoto State, northwestern Nigeria

In order to determine the current status of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in Sokoto State, Nigeria, a competitive ELISA kit was used to detect the presence of antibodies to PPR virus among the unvaccinated sheep and goats from some randomly selected local government areas (LGAs) in the study area. An overall seroprevalence rate of 45.50% (197/433) was recorded for the disease in this study. Based on the LGAs sampled, the seroprevalence rates in decreasing order were 68.75% (Sokoto South), 59.10% (Tambuwal), 56.72% (Goronyo), 53.24% (Kware), 33.24% (Bodinga) and 18.60% (Wurno). Our results further revealed that sheep had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher percentage of the seroprevalence rate (52.41%) than the goats (40.24%) sampled in this study. Similarly, age group was found to be significantly associated with the seroprevalence rate which was highest among animals aged 1–2 years (52.49%) followed by those aged less than 1 year old (44.86%) and those aged above 2 years (31.97%). Lastly, breeds of goats, but not those of sheep considered in this study, were found to be significantly associated with the seroprevalence rate (p < 0.05). Altogether, our results signify the active circulation of PPR virus in all the geopolitical zones of the state, and that age, sex, species and location of sampling may constitute the risk factors for the occurrence of the disease in the study area. Therefore, vaccination using PPR homologous vaccine should be intensified in the study area. Genetic characterisation of the circulating peste des petits ruminants virus in the study area should also be performed. © 2018, Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature.