PREVALENCE OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS IN DAIRY CATTLE OF JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN, INDIA

Abstract

Tuberculosis in cattle is a chronic debilitating infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis, an intracellular acid-fast bacterium. The diseases have become prevalent infection in most of the developing countries and causes considerable economic losses to producers of livestock, particularly in dairy cows. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of tuberculosis in cattle in Jaipur. A total of 200 serum samples were collected from cattle of a gaushala in Jaipur and subjected to ELISA and single intradermal tuberculin test. overall prevalence obtained was 1.5% in cattle. Individual test wise, 6 (3%) and 9 (4.5%) animals were found positive to SITT and ELISA, respectively. Higher prevalence was observed in age group above 5 years as 3.65% and 5.11% by SITT and ELISA, respectively. Also, the prevalence was found higher in crossbred cattle as 3.45 and 6.89 by SITT and ELISA, respectively. Comparison of results for SITT and ELISA tests was found statistically non-significant (p> 0.05) with respect to age and breed. The kappa value to know the agreement between SITT and ELISA test was 0.38. It shows a poor agreement between both the tests for tuberculosis in cattle. The prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in milch animals signifies potential health risk for human and animals. The findings are required further confirmation with large scale surveillance of all susceptible animals