Epidemiology Of Brucelosis In Camels In West Kurdufan State - Sudan

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out fromSeptember 2018 to April 2019.The aim of this projectwas to study Brucellosis in the camels (Camelus dromedarius) to estimation the prevalence of brucellosis in thecamels and investigate risk factors associated with the disease in West Kurdufan state. Atotal of 500 serum and whole blood samples were collected from camel in three selected localities in West Kurdufan State, the total of camels examined in this study 49% (n=245) from Alnehood, 42.4% (n=212)from Ghubaish, and 8.6% (n=43) from Elkhwai Localities. From the total camels tested 28.8% (n=144) were males, while 71.2 %( n=356) were females respectively. All samples were screened by the RBPT, and 3.8%(19/500) were positive by the test. All samples were further tested by the serum agglutination test (SAT) test, and of the 19 RBPT positive samples,17 were found positive by the SAT test. Among the sixty herds included in the study 15were found positive (25%) .The investigated individual risk factors included: localities, sex, age groups, sexes while herd sizes, management types, having aborted animals in the herd, sharing males between herds for breeding purpose, contact with other ruminants ,contact with other camel herds at pasture and water points and awereness of herdman about brucellosis were the management risks.The study revealed that 3.8% of samples tested and 25% herds were seroposetive for brucellosis with increase in seroprevalence of disease in Elkhwai 16.3% ,Alnehood 3.7% and Ghubaish 1.4%.(OD Ratio =13.546 , CI = 3.347-54.822 , P-value =0.000).The result showed that the prevalence is relatively higher in females 3.9% than males3.5%. The seroprevalence of brucellosis according to herd size were2.8%,3.3% and 4% in small, medium and large herd sizes, respectively.This increase in seropositivity is not significant statistically(p.value=0.920).The study revealed that the camel contacts with other camel herds in pasture and water points were higher prevalence (9.2%) than herds not in contact(2.2%) (OD Ratio =0.119, CI = 0.039-0.363, P-value =0.000), whereas camels reared with ruminants (sheep, goat and cattle) showed prevalence (6.7%) higher than that kept alone (2.2%). (OD Ratio =0.307, CI = 0.119-0.796, P-value =0.015). This study showed the status of seroprevalence and with exception of (localities, contact with other herds and species) the statistical analysis by using chi square didn't show any effect of other risk factor on prevalence of brucellosis among camels in West Kurdufan State. Out of the 500 whole blood sample tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) none of the sample was found positive.