SEROPREVALENCE, ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CAMEL BRUCELLOSIS IN ELWAYYE DISTRICT OF BORANA ZONE, OROMIA REGION, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Brucellosis is a serious economic and public health importance disease which is the major constraint that causes low productivity and mortality of animals in the country. Previously, the status of disease in camel was not well document in study area and More importantly, poor management practice of pastoral community indicates the need to study disease. In addition, the economic impact of disease was not assessed in pastoral community area. A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to December 2023 to estimate seroprevalence of camel brucellosis, associated risk factors and economic impact, and to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of pastoral community in Elwayye District of Borana Zone, southern Ethiopia. A total of 240 blood samples were collected from extensively and traditional managed dromedary camel. The collected samples were subjected to test for brucella antibodies using Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) and to indirect ELISA for confirmation. Risk factors like; herd size, Age, Management practice, history of abortion and sex was assessed. The overall seroprevalence of camel brucellosis in the current study by (RBPT) was 6.2% and by ELISA was 3.7%. The logistic regression analysis indicated that, age (OR= 12.99, 95% CI=1.065-158.501), herd size (OR=20.22,95% CI= (1.823-224.368) and management practice (OR=1.25, 95% CI= (0.075, 0.7884) were significantly associated with brucella seropositivity in camels. But in this study sex, body condition and parity number were not associated with brucella seropositive (P>0.05). In this study, highest economic loss per house hold during production time was due to abortion or perinatal mortality of calves (341325 ETB) and also there is milk production loss (7392.6 ETB). These indicate the need to study camel brucellosis in study area and the disease was endemic and prevalent in pastoralist area which need well organized surveillance, disease control and prevention programs. Education to scale up community knowledge and awareness creation about disease is important.