THE SEROPREVALENCE OF BRUCELLA ABORTUS IN YAK, ZO AND COWS IN THREE DISTRICTS OF GILGIT-BALTITAN, PROVINCE
Muhammad Muslim Saher, Dr. Muhammad Hasan Mushtaq, Dr. Ubaid-ur-Rehman Zia and Dr. Muhammad Zubair Shabbir
Date : 2018-07-30 Volume : 10

An epidemiological cross sectional study was conducted from February to September 2017 to investigate seroprevalence of Brucella abortus in yak, Zo and cows in three districts (Ghizer, Skardu and Gilgit) of Gilgit-Baltistan Province. For that purpose a total of 160 serum samples (96 from yak & Zo & 64 from cattle) were collected through convenient sampling method. All sera were initially screened with Rose Bengal Plate test (RBPT). The results revealed that the seroprevalence of Brucella abortus in cows was 10.93% (7/64). It was an uncertainty that all seropositive sera were from Jersey cows of Government Dairy Farm Gilgit, kept for experimental purposes. It meant that the seroprevalence of Brucella abortus in that herd was found to be 87.5% (7/8). The local breeds of cow, Yak and Zo were free from Brucella infection in study area. After screening, RBPT positive samples were further tested with i-ELISA for confirmation. Out of 7 RBPT positive samples, 4 were found to be positive for the presence of antibodies. Hence the seroprevalence of Brucella abortus in exotic breeds of cow (Jersey) was 50% (4/8). The high prevalence of brucellosis in that herd may be due to poor management, lack of screening programs, using of infected bulls for breeding purpose and adapting of unhygienic veterinary practices etc. However further investigations are urgently needed.
The associated risk factors of Brucella abortus infection were identified through analyzing predesigned questionnaires in SPSS software version 16.0. The Chi square test results showed that fetal abortions having p-value P = 0.000 at (P < 0.05), OR; 18.500 at 95% CI; (2.299 to 148.838) and retained placenta with p-value P =0.009 at (P < 0.05), OR; 11.625 at 95% CI; (1.170 to 115.521) were found to be significantly associated with Brucella abortus infection. But the breed type (P = 0.013), animal age group (P =0.07), gender (P =0.351), disease history (P =0.04), and current health status (P =0.160) were not significantly associated with brucellosis at 95% CI: (P < 0.05). The current study revealed that the exotic breed of cattle might be the carrier of Brucella infection in disease free zone. Hence continuous surveillance of brucellosis in Government and private dairy farms may be recommended to reduce the chances of disease transmission in the selected region.
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