Preparation and Evaluation of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus (PPRV) Vaccine in Egypt

Peste des petits Ruminants (PPR) is a highly destructive and contagious viral disease that affects small ruminants such as sheep and goats. It is caused by the Peste des petits Ruminants virus (PPRV), which belongs to the Morbillivirus genus in the Paramyxoviridae family. In countries where PPR is prevalent, live attenuated PPR vaccines are considered crucial for controlling the disease as they provide long-lasting immunity. The purpose of this study was to create a potential vaccine candidate for PPRV using the Nigeria 75/1 strain. This study aimed to evaluate the PPRV harvest and the prepared vaccine quality control points including, titer, vacuum, relative humidity, the immunity and the safety of the prepared vaccine in target species and lab animals (guinea pigs and mice) at field dose and at 100 X dose. The virus neutralization test (VNT) was used to determine the immunogenicity 21 days post vaccination (DPV). The vaccine titer after lyophilization was 5.3 log10 TCID50 compared to 5.6 log10 TCID50 before lyophilization. The prepared vaccine passed the quality control (QC) points including vacuum test, and the recorded relative humidity was around 1.6%. The safety profile was confirmed in the target and non-target species. It was safe even at the 100X dose. The seroconversion rate was 1.7 log10 at 21 DPV in sheep and goats vaccinated with normal field dose (1ml) that contains 102.5 log10. The vaccine successfully passed all the QC points. The proofed safety, and immunogenicity of the vaccine validate its usage for the disease control.