[5] In 2017, the disease was reported to be affecting saiga antelope in Mongolia, causing near-catastrophic herd depletion for the endangered species.

[10] Official agencies such as the FAO and OIE use the French name "peste des petits ruminants" with several spelling variants.

Symptoms are similar to those of rinderpest in cattle and involves oral necrosis, mucopurulent nasal and ocular discharges, cough, pneumonia, and diarrhea,[11] though they vary according to the previous immune status of the sheep, the geographic location, the time of year, or if the infection is new or chronic.

When entering an affected flock, one sees many animals with hind limbs stained by sticky faeces.

Examination of the mouth shows ulceration of the buccal mucosae, especially on the inner face of the lips, and neighboring gum.

[11] The first description of the disease was published in 1942 and relates to an outbreak in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, in goats and sheep in 1940.

[18][11] It spread to East Africa and Arabia at the beginning of the 1980s and to Pakistan and India in the early 1990s (Calcutta goat markets) finally reaching Tibet in 2007.

Genotype III has caused outbreaks in Ethiopia (1996) and also in Arabia, southern India, and Tamil Nadu (1992).

In North Africa, only Egypt was once hit, but since summer 2008, Morocco is suffering a generalized outbreak with 133 known cases in 129 provinces, mostly affecting sheep.

In an affected flock, even in pest-free regions, the disease does not progress very rapidly, in spite of the close contact between animals.

Quick post mortem examination will lead to the discovery of many haemorrhagic patches on the serous membranes, and intense pneumonia.

A risk exists that it may conclude with enzootic pneumonia, inability to open the mouth, and problems with the oesophagus and different parts of the intestine.

[citation needed]  There was infiltration of neutrophils and mononuclear cells within the alveoli, bronchioles, alveolar wall, and interstitium of the lung.

[citation needed]  Microscopic analysis also revealed that there was interstitial pneumonia followed by sloughing of the bronchial epithelium in the lungs and the prominence of type II pneumocytes.

[citation needed] Leptomeningitis and nonsuppurative encephalitis were visible in brain sections under a microscope, and these conditions were characterized by vascular congestion, hemorrhages in the parenchyma, perivascular cuffing with mild to moderate mononuclear cells (mostly lymphocytes and few macrophages), focal to diffuse microgliosis, neuronal degeneration, satellitosis, and neuronophagia.

[15] A global eradication programme has been developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Organisation for Animal Health.