Pathological and immunohistochemical investigation of PPR virus in goats from Ghazipur district of eastern plain zone of Uttar Pradesh

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR)is an acute, highly contagious and transboundary viral disease of sheep and goats, causing high morbidity and mortality.A total of 250 goats were examined in Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh during the study period (September, 2021 to August, 2022) and 40 serum samples were randomly collectedfrom goats exhibiting clinical signs of PPR like anorexia, depression, fever (106±1°F), occulo-nasal discharge, diarrhoea with soiled hind quarter, shrunken eyes, coughing, and respiratory distress.Out of these, 25 goats were dead and necropsy was conducted. Gross lesions like stomatitis, consolidated pneumonic lungs, generalised lymphadenopathy with necrosis and congestion of lymph node, atrophied spleen, and hemorrhagic gastroenteritis were noticed.Histopathological analysis showedcongestion and edema in lungs, network of fibrin was infiltrated with neutrophils, syncytia, and gaint cells along with eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies. The alveoli, bronchioles, alveolar wall, and interstitium of the lungs showed neutrophils and mononuclear cells infiltration. Lymphoid organs showed necrosis and lymphoid cells loss. Immunohistochemical labelling showed localization of PPR virus antigenin the lung alveolar epithelial cells and macrophages.The seroprevalence of PPR was 92.5% using c-ELISA. PCR analysis was done to detect PPR virus on tissue samples and eight of 25 samples tested positive for the PPR virus with a prevalence of 32% by PCR.