Peste des petits ruminants in Kenya; Pastoralist knowledge of the disease in goats in Samburu and Baringo Counties
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Date
2012Author
Kihu, S M
Njagi, L M
Njogu, G N
Kamande, J N
Gitao, C G
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
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Peste des Petits Ruminants disease outbreak was reported in Turkana County in Kenya in 2007. This was the
first time PPR had clinically been reported in Kenya. Peste des Petits Ruminants disease was then assumed to have
only infected Turkana County. Participatory disease surveillance was carried out in 2007 in Samburu and Baringo
Counties which neighbour Turkana County to establish whether PPR was present in these counties and to describe
the local pastoralist’s perceptions of PPR. The methods used were semi-structured interviews, participatory disease
risk mapping, matrix scoring and proportional piling techniques in 13 focus group discussions each with an average
of nine herders from 13 villages. Twenty four serum samples for antibody analysis with competitive ELISA were
collected from goat herds of respondent villages. By the time of the study, no PPR vaccination had ever been carried
in Samburu and Baringo counties. The results from this study indicated that the four pastoral ethnic communities
interviewed in Samburu and Baringo counties had previous experience with PPR like disease. There was local
knowledge of a PPR-like disease in each pastoral community and their descriptions of this syndrome closely
matched textbook descriptions of PPR. Suspected cases of PPR were observed in the study areas. 10 out of 24 serum
samples collected from suspected cases had PPR antibodies, and positive samples were found in each County. Based
on the local characterizations of PPR, the presence of PPR antibodies in the serum samples and clinical observation
of suspected PPR cases, the study concluded that PPR was occurring in Samburu and Baringo counties of Kenya, in
areas that neighboured Turkana. The morbidity and mortality in these other Counties may have been less dramatic
and therefore not reached the attention of the veterinary departmen
Citation
Kihu, S. M et al(2012). Peste des petits ruminants in Kenya; Pastoralist knowledge of the disease in goats in Samburu and Baringo Counties. Research Opinions in Animal and Veterinary Science; 2(11); 544-553Publisher
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Nairobi
Description
Journal article