Study of seroprevalence of peste des petits ruminants in sheep and goats in Guilan province in 2022

Peste des petitis (PPR) is a highly contagious viral disease with high incidence and mortality rate, which is endemic in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and Africa. This disease has been causing economic losses in sheep and goat flocks in these areas. The aim of current research was to study of seroprevalence of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in sheep and goats in Guilan province in 2022. In this cross-sectional study, blood samples from 368 sheep and goats from different rural areas of Guilan province were analyzed using competitive ELISA test. Risk factors including sex, age, species and the geographic location were taken into consideration. From a total of 368 serum samples that analyzed for the presence of antibody against PPR virus, 85.32% (n=314) samples were positive for PPR virus antibody, and 14.68% (n=54) were negative. Except for the geographical area, there was no statistically significant difference between risk factors and PPR virus antibody seroprevalence (p>0.05). According to the results, PPR was proven to be an endemic disease in north of Iran and the environmental risk factors have a greater impact on the seroprevalence of disease than host risk factors. Therefore, in order to control the disease in endemic areas, further attention should be paid to environmental risk factors and minimizing the risk of epidemics through vaccination at sensitive timescales and areas before high-risk environment changes.