PESHAWAR, April 5: The livestock department has developed a vaccine against the PPR -- a viral disease that kills a large number of sheep and goats every year. An official said the Strengthening of Livestock Services Project (SLSP) funded by the European Union had developed the Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) vaccine in Pakistan. It will help stop spread of the disease among sheep and goats. Previously, the vaccine was being imported from European countries.

The Veterinary Research Institute’s vaccine laboratory, a project of the SLSP in Lahore, had succeeded in producing the vaccine, the official said. It is now available in all districts of the NWFP.

The Directorate of Livestock and Dairy Development, NWFP, has distributed the PPR vaccine throughout the province to stop the spread of the disease.He said Pakistan had become a Rinderpest disease-free country after the development of the vaccine, which had been acknowledged by the World Animal Organisation. “It will improve farmers’ livelihood through better provision of livestock services and enhance productivity,” he added.

The PPR is an acute infectious and contagious disease which mostly attacks sheep and goats between December and March.

It is caused by morbilivirus which is related to Rinderpest of cattle and buffaloes, distemper of dogs and measles of man.