Ovine Progressive Pneumonia (OPP)

Ovine Progressive Pneumonia(OPP) is a viral disease of sheep. The opp virus will cause disease in sheep that can have some of the following symptoms: progressive weight loss, labored breathing, pneumonia, paralysis, swollen joints and hard unproductive udders.Once a sheep is infected with the virus it will stay infected for life and will serve as a carrier for the rest of the herd. Studies have found prevalence rates of up to 26 % of the sheep in the United States are infected with the virus.

Primary transmission is thru infected colostrum and milk. Contact transmission is also possible in closely confined sheep.

Diagnosis of the OPP infection is made by either identifying the virus or antibodies in the blood. The presence of the antibody implies the animal has been exposed to the virus and does not indicate the extent of the disease.
There is no treatment for the virus.

Control and eradication of the disease from the flock is possible with testing every 6 to 12 months and culling of all positive sheep. 

WVS now has the ability to test for this virus in the lab. The same test that is used for CAE has been USDA approved for detecting the antibody to OPP.