Pathological and molecular characterisation of peste des petits ruminants in Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) in Israel

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a devastating disease that generally affects sheep and goats, mostly in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The disease has been declared a target for global eradication. Despite its high prevalence in domestic flocks and its high seroprevalence among wildlife, it is rarely reported as a fulminant disease in wild ruminant species (with the exception of Central Asia). In this report, we describe a severe PPR outbreak in a zoo herd of Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana), causing the deaths of 2/3 of the herd. The clinical onset was acute with morbid animals exhibiting lethargy and watery-to-bloody diarrhea and death usually within 48 h. The most consistent gross pathologic findings were hemorrhagic abomasitis and enteritis. Oral lesions and pulmonary lesions were rare. Histology revealed necrohemorrhagic enteritis and abomasitis with myriad nuclear and cytoplasmic viral inclusion bodies. Molecular examinations confirmed the diagnosis of PPR and determined that the causative agent belongs to lineage IV. Further molecular examination showed that the virus belongs to the Asian clade of lineage IV and is closely related to a virus described in Turkey.