Abstract
Brucellosis is one of the major zoonotic diseases yet prevalent in Ethiopia. It is contagious and has harmful effects on free animal movement and export. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017 in the Loko and Uke peasant association of Guto Gida District. The goal of this study is to determine the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of bovine brucellosis. The questionnaire survey was conducted on 200 respondents to collect the livestock owner's perception of this disease. Eighty (80) blood samples were collected from grazing cattle above six months of age. Serum was tested by complement fixation test (CFT) for Brucella antibody detection. Pearson chi-square is used to assess the relation of independent variables such as sex, site, and age with seroprevalence in a 95% confidence interval if P value is less than 0.05, recoded as significant. Seroprevalence of bovine brucellosis in the present study is 22.5%. Bovine brucellosis prevalence recorded in Uke (28.6%) was higher than that in Loko (21.2%). Again bovine brucellosis is higher in males (30.4%) than females (19.2%). There is prevalence variation among site, sex, and age which is statistically insignificant (P value>0.05). Survey findings revealed that 52% (104/200) of respondents did not know the causes of abortion, while 48% (96/200) of them confirmed abortion in their herd and 64% (124/200) of respondents removed retained fetal membrane by themselves. Brucellosis is a contagious reproductive disease of cattle with zoonotic implications and needs to design and implement control measures aiming at preventing further spread of the disease.
Highlights
Brucella is a Gram-negative and facultative intracellular pathogen
Bovine brucellosis caused by B. abortus biovars is the most important disease in many countries around the world because of its economic importance [2, 3]. e infection is typically a disease of sexually mature animals, which merely affects the reproductive organs of infected animals [4]
Out of eighty cattle tested for bovine brucellosis, 22.5% (18/80) were positive for bovine brucellosis. e higher prevalence, 28.6%, was recorded at the Uke peasant association from the Guto Gida district, whereas the lower prevalence, 21.2% (14/66), was recorded at Loko (Table 1). eir differences in prevalence in two different sites were statistically insignificant (P > 0.05) (Table 1)
Summary
Brucella is a Gram-negative and facultative intracellular pathogen. It may affect a wide range of mammals including humans, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, rodents, and marine mammals [1]. E infection is typically a disease of sexually mature animals, which merely affects the reproductive organs of infected animals [4] It is associated with abortion at the first gestation (“abortion storm” in naıve heifers) and mainly caused by biovars biotype-1 of Brucella abortus [5, 6]. Brucella enters the body through the digestive tract, mucosal layers, intact skin, direct or indirect contact with excretion of the organisms in uterine discharge, following abortion, and ingestion of colostrums and milk of infected animals [7,8,9] After infection, it may spread through blood and the lymphatic system to another organ where it infects the tissues. It causes reproductive failures (disorders) such as metritis, abortion in the last trimester or birth of an unthrifty newborn in the female, orchitis, and epididymitis with frequent sterility in male animals [10,11,12,13,14]
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