Better lives through livestock
Epidemiology of peste des petits ruminants virus
in West Africa: Is lineage IV replacing lineage II in
Burkina Faso?
Abel S. Biguezoton1, Guy Ilboudo2, Barbara Wieland3, Rahinata Sawadogo1, Firmin Dah1, Adrien Zoungrana1 and Michel Dione4
1Centre international de recherche-développement sur l'élevage en zone subhumide (CIRDES), Burkina Faso
2International Livestock Research Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
3Institute of Virology and Immunology, Switzerland
4International Livestock Research Institute, Dakar, Senegal
Peste des petits ruminants Global Research and Expertise Network (PPR-GREN) meeting
Montpellier, France, 7–9 December 2022

2
Plan
 Introduction
 Methods
 Results and Discussion
 Conclusion

3
Introduction
The cash income provided by small
ruminants in most of African and Asian
countries is threatened by the highly
infectious transboundary viral disease
peste des petits ruminants (PPR).
©Abel BIGUEZOTON

4
Introduction
Presence of PPR in Burkina Faso has been confirmed in 2008
PPR seems to be endemic now in the country
Outbreaks in 2018
Figure 2:Répartition géographique des foyers de PPR au Burkina Faso en
2018 (Source : DSA, 2020)
1.6.3 Impact de la PPR au Burkina Faso
Sur le plan économique, selon une étude réalisée par la FAO en 2018, les pertes
Outbreaks in 2020

5
Introduction
As part of the global eradication
campaign targeting PPR, the Government
of Burkina Faso established a strategic
plan in 2018.
Annual vaccination campaign started in
2019.
However, little is known about epidemiology
of PPR in Burkina Faso (published data).

6
Introduction
According to previous studies : Lineages I and II
Page 11 of 15 Review Artic
l e
:
TABLE 1: Lineages of peste des petit
s rum
i n
an ts virus circulatin
g in d
i ff erent countries of Africa, based on partia
l
N
/ F g ene sequence analysis.
Country Year of first report Lineage Year of confir
m a tio
n o
f o
ut br eak
through submission
NCBI References
Algeria 2010 IV 2010 Yes De Nardi et al. 2012
Angola 2012 IV 2012 No Silva & Libeau 2014
Benin 1972 NA NA No Bourdin 1973
2016 II 2011 Yes Adombi et al. 2017
Burkina Faso NA I 1988 Yes Munir et al. 2012
- - - - Kwiatek et al. 2011
- II 1999 No Banyard et al. 2010
Cameroon NA IV 1997 Yes Banyard et al. 2010
Central Africa NA IV 2004 Yes Banyard et al. 2010
Chad 1971 II 1993 No Provost, Maurice & Bourdin 1972
- - - - Bidjeh et al. 1995
- - - - Libeau et al. 2014
Comoros 2010 NA NA No FAO 2013
Congo NA IV 2006 No Muniraju et al. 2014
DemocraticR epublic
of the Congo
2012 IV 2012 No Salami et al. 2014
- - - - Muniraju et al. 2014
Eritria NA IV 2002, 2003, 2005, 2011 Yes Cosseddu et al. 2013
Need to investigate current situation for control
and epidemiological studies!

7
Methods
As part of the Epidemiology and control of peste des petits
ruminants (ECo-PPR) project activities in Burkina Faso outbreak
investigations were carried out;
Swab samples from eyes, mouth and nose were collected from
suspicious goats and sheep after confirmation of PPR through a
rapid diagnostic test;
-Tissue samples (spleen, lung, lymph nodes) of suspicious dead
animals were also collected.

8
Methods
Virus confirmation was performed with RT-PCR amplification
targeting nucleocapsid (N) gene.
The RT-PCR products of positives extracts were sequenced.
Sequences and phylogenetic analyses were performed to
determine the lineages.

9
Results and discussion
Nine outbreaks have been identified in four provinces
3
4
1
1 We certainly lost
other outbreaks
in these
provinces during
our study

10
Results and discussion
Pairwise alignment results
Lineage IV is
the only one
present in
our samples
from the 4
provinces!
95% (333/350 bp) of similarity with lineages IV samples from Nigeria
(MN725768) and Cameroon (MH447978).
Same percentage of similarity was also obtained with the lineage IV
sequence from Niger but on lower sequence size: i.e. 222/234 bp.
Pairwise alignment with lineages I and II from Burkina Faso published
in previous work showed no significant similarity or no more than
87% of similarity on smaller sequences (i.e. 188/218 bp).

11
Results and discussion
Phylogenetic relationships (based on partial Ngene sequences)
Lineage IV is
the only one
present in
the samples
from the 4
provinces!
Studies sequences have
clustered only with
those of lineage IV
reference sequences
Lineage IV
Lineage II
Lineage I
PR131_Comoe2_Burkina Faso
PR124_Comoe3_Burkina Faso
PR127_Comoe4_Burkina Faso
PR56_Boulkiemde1_Burkina Faso
PR54_Boulkiemde3_Burkina Faso
PR7_Leraba_Burkina Faso
PR53_Boulkiemde2_Burkina Faso
KJ124765_Nigeria_LIV
PR186_Kourweogo_Burkina Faso
MN725768_Nigeria_LIV
MH447978_Cameroon_LIV
OL310685_DRC_LIV
MG694464_Niger_LIV
AY560591_India_Sungri/96_LIV
KY967608_Nigeria_LIV
HQ131924_Moroco_LIV
DQ840160_Nigeria_75/1_LII
MG694467_Niger_LII
MK777889_Mali_LII
MG694466_Niger_LII
MK777904_Ghana_LII
KF479427_Nigeria_LII
MK777896_Mali_LII
MK777898_Burkina Faso_LII
KR781451_Côte d'Ivoire_LII
MK777901_Burkina Faso_LII
MG694468_Niger_LI
MW281014_Mali_LI
MW281010_Mali_LI
DQ840172_Burkina Faso_LI
EU267273_Côte d'Ivoire_LI
96
69
100
95
81
97
82
94
90
90
70
99
0,02
: Current study strains; : India Sungri/96 vaccine strain; : Nigeria 75/1 vaccine strain

12
Results and discussion
Potential sources of lineage IV presence in Burkina Faso
Animals’ mobility
between bordering
countries

13
Results and discussion
Is lineage IV replacing lineage II in Burkina Faso?
PR124 Comoe3
PR127 Comoe4
PR131 Comoe2
PR53 Boulkiemde2
PR7 Leraba
PR56 Boulkiemde1
PR54 Boulkiemde3
KJ124765_Nigeria LIV
PR186 Kourweogo
MN725768_Nigeria LIV
MH447978_Cameroon LIV
OL310685_DRC LIV
MG694464_ Niger LIV
KY967608_Nigeria LIV
HQ131924_Morocco LIV
DQ840160_Nigeria LII
MG694467_Niger LII
MK777889_Mali LII
MG694466_Niger LII
MK777904_Ghana LII
MK777896_Mali LII
KF479427_Nigeria LII
MK777898_Burkina-Faso LII
KR781451_Côte d'Ivoire LII
MK777901_Burkina-Faso LII
EU267273_Ivoiry Coast LI
DQ840172_Burkina-Faso LI
MW281014_Mali LI
MW281010_Mali LI
MG694468_Niger LI
95
69
100
95
79
96
90 96
97
81
83
68
97
0,02
Lineage IV
Lineage II
Lineage I
Further investigation is needed!
4 of 45 provinces studied

14
Conclusion
This study confirms the presence of the PPRv lineage IV in Burkina Faso.
Based on outbreaks investigated, this lineage seems to have replaced
lineage II.
Further investigations are thus needed to better understand how PPRv
lineage spread in the region and if lineage II is still present and what the
implications for PPR control are.

15
Epidemiology and control of peste des petits ruminants (ECo-PPR)
The ECo-PPR program focuses on existing research gaps and aims to provide research support
to ongoing PPR control and eradication efforts in East and West Africa.
The program thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their
contributions. Special thanks to partners including the CGIAR Initiative on Sustainable Animal
Productivity for Livelihoods, Nutrition and Gender Inclusion

THANK YOU