Preliminary investigation on presence of peste des petits ruminants in Dakawa, Mvomero district, Morogoro region, Tanzania.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an acute viral disease of small ruminants characterised by the sudden onset of depression, fever, oculonasal discharges, sores in the mouth, foul-smelling diarrhoea and death. For many years, in Africa, the disease was mainly confined to West and Central Africa but it has now spread southwards to previously PPR-free countries including Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. The disease was first reported in Tanzania in 2008 when it was confined to the Northern Zone districts bordering Kenya. Presence of the disease has also been confirmed in southern Tanzania especially Mtwara region. Recently, a suspected outbreak of PPR in Dakawa area, Mvomero district, Morogoro region was reported. Clinical samples (lungs, intestines, lymph nodes, whole blood and sera) from suspected goats (n = 8) and sheep (n = 1) were submitted to Sokoine University of Agriculture for analysis. Molecular diagnosis by amplification of the nucleoprotein gene and the fusion gene of PPR virus (PPRV) using PPRV specific primers was done. Five goats and the sheep were positive for PPRV after performing RT-PCR. To our knowledge, this is the first report confirming the presence of PPR in the Mvomero district of the Morogoro region, Tanzania. Hence, more efforts should be put in place to prevent the spread of PPR in Tanzania.