Dear Moderator,
As was the case with RP, several biological and physiological factors favor the prospect of achieving global eradication of PPR virus. These include: (i) possibility to use a single vaccine to protect animals against all PPRV strains; (ii) absence of a carrier state; (iii) no known and well documented reservoir of infection outside the small ruminant population; (iv) availability of safe live attenuated vaccines, which are relatively cheap to produce and confer life-long immunity after a single dose; (v) the near perspective of accessing thermo stable or thermo-tolerant vaccines; (vi) possibility of combination of PPR vaccine with other important small ruminant disease; (vii) the availability of affordable diagnostic tests for sero-monitoring of vaccination programmes and detection of virus circulation; (viii) as well as a growing global political support for eradication. I am in opinion that there is a room
of coupling the control of one priority SRD on regional basis with the global eradication of PPR virus.
Dr. Hiver BOUSSINI
Animal Health Officer
African Union/Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources