Emerging Virus Infections in the Wildlife-Livestock-Human Interface
Project overview
Participants
More related research
Short summary
Understanding the epidemiology and socioeconomic impact of peste des petits ruminants. International research cooperation within the Swedish Research Links programme.
Background
PPR is a contagious endemic disease that affects small ruminants like sheep and goats in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. The disease is caused by Peste de Petits Ruminants virus (PPRV), which is a morbillivirus. PPRV is closely related to Rinderpest virus, which today is eradicated from the world. PPRV has been identified as one of the next targets for eradication, but there are still some knowledge gaps to be filled before successful eradication schemes can be implemented. For example, the role of wildlife in the epidemiology and virus transmission needs to be clarified.
The project
The Division of Rural Development, through Dr Klara Fischer lead the research cooperation in this project regarding increasing the understanding of how PPRV affects rural economy and livelihoods in affected areas.
The effect that PPRV has on sheep and goats in some rural areas hits poor rural households in particular. In comparison with larger livestock, goats and sheep are commonly affordable also to the poorest sections of rural communities, where they provide important livelihood security. These animals however often never enter the formal economy (they are exchanged for crop produce, used for ceremonial purposes, for paying traditional doctors’ visits etc), the loss, or reduced productivity, of these animals due to PPRV is thus easily missed out in conventional economic analyses.
A livelihoods approach to studying the effects of PPRV therefore provided insights about the poverty effects of PPRV that would be easily missed by conventional economic assessments.
The Research Group
PROJECT LEADER
Jonas Johansson Wensman, Senior Lecturer, Department of Animal Biosciences (HBIO); HBIO, Bacteriology, Virology, Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, SLU
PARTICIPANTS
Klara Fischer, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer, Division of Environmental Communication, SLU
Karl Ståhl, Researcher, State Epizootologist, The Swedish Veterinary Agency SVA
Siamak Zohari, Researcher, The Swedish Veterinary Agency SVA
Solomon Stephen Ramabu, Botswana College of Agriculture
Gerald Misinzo, Professor, Dept. of Veterinary Microbiology & Parasitology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
Ferrán Jori Massanas, The French agricultural research and international cooperation organization (CIRAD)
Geneviéve Libeau, Virologist, The French agricultural research and international cooperation organization (CIRAD)
Publications
Lysholm, S., Wensman, J. J., Munyeme, M. & Fischer, K. (2020). Perceptions and practices among Zambian sheep and goat traders concerning small ruminant health and disease. PLOS ONE, 15(6), e0233611. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233611
Lysholm, S., Fischer, K., Lindahl, J. F., Munyeme, M. & Wensman, J. J. (2022). Seropositivity rates of zoonotic pathogens in small ruminants and associated public health risks at informal urban markets in Zambia. Acta Tropica, 225, 106217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2021.106217