Antibody seroprevalences against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) virus in sheep and goats in Sudan

Counter immnuo-electrophoresis (CIEP) and Competitive ELISA (C-ELISA) tests were employed for seroprevalence of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) infection in Sudan. The result of both tests showed high prevalence of PPRV antibodies in sheep and goats sera collected from six different regions of Sudan. Of the 519 serum samples examined for the presence of PPRV antibodies 307(59.15%) were positive by CIEP while 263(50.67%) were positive by C-ELISA. CIEP technique was shown to be more sensitive than C-ELISA technique for detection of PPRV antibodies (Kappa statistics 0.259). C-ELISA allowed rapid, simple, specific, sensitive and differential sero-diagnosis of PPRV and RPV in sheep, goats and cattle. CIEP is, unlike competitive ELISA, is group-specific test and can not differentiate between PPR and RP infections. Despite its low specificity CIEP can be a useful indicative screening test for PPRV antibodies in flocks that neither been vaccinated nor otherwise exposed to PPR or RP virus. Results obtained suggest that CIEP, like the HI test, could be a useful screening test where it is not possible to use C-ELISA.