Study on the seroprevalence of small ruminant brucellosis in and around Bahir Dar, North West Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross sectional study was carried out from October 2008 to April 2009 to determine the sero-prevalence of brucellosis in small ruminants in and around Bahir Dar, northwest Ethiopia. The sampling method used was purposive sampling technique for districts and simple random for the study animals. A total of 500 serum samples (270 from sheep and 230 from goats) were collected from extensive management system with no history of vaccination. All serum samples were initially screened by Rose-Bengal-Plate Test (RBPT) and positive reactors to RBPT (n=6) were further tested by complement fixation test (CFT) for confirmation. Accordingly, the overall prevalence of brucellosis in small ruminants was 0.4 % (2/500). Rose Bengal Plate Test detected 6 (1.2%) of the samples as seropositive. Up on further testing by CFT only 2 (0.4%) were positive which were adult goats. The seroprevalence of brucellosis was found higher in females (0.4%) than males (0%). Although seropositive animals are low in number, it was found out that animals more than 1 year of age were more affected than others. The result of the present study revealed that the seroprevalence of small ruminant brucellosis in the study area was very low. However, the existence of the disease in the study area has possible risk of spread in the future. Accordingly, elimination of positive seroreactors has been recommended to control the spread of brucellosis in these species of animals.