title: Status of sheep sera to bluetongue, peste des petits ruminants and sheep pox in a few northern states of India.
abstract: Bluetongue (BT), peste des petits ruminants (PPR) and sheep pox are the most economically important viral diseases of sheep in India. Serum samples obtained from sheep in five northern states of the country were screened for antibody against these agents to explore the extent of spread of these infections. A total of 516 serum samples were screened for the presence of antibodies against BT and PPR viruses. Of these, 155 samples were also tested for antibodies against sheep pox virus. BT antibodies were found in 293 (56.8%) animals, PPR virus antibodies in 215 (41.7%) and sheep pox virus antibodies in 106 (68.3%). Of the serum samples tested, 25.2% were positive for antibodies against all three viruses. These findings clearly demonstrated not only the enzootic nature of disease, but also the co-existence of antibodies to more than one of these viruses which would indicate that concurrent infections were common. Therefore, control measures should focus in combating all three diseases simultaneously by exploring the possibility of a trivalent vaccine or the use of multiple genes expressing vectored vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Division of Virology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar 263 138, Nainital (Distt.), Uttarakhand, India. bhanu6467@gmail.com
authors.forename: Veerakyathappa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bhanuprakash
authors.forename: Paramasivaiah
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saravanan
authors.forename: Madhusudan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosamani
authors.forename: Vinayagamurthy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balamurugan
authors.forename: Bimalendu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.forename: Raj Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Singh