Epidemiological Study of Brucellosis in Camels (CAMELUS DROMEDARIUS) in Khartoum State, Sudan

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2012 to September 2012, to determine the prevalence of Brucella species and to identify risk factors for brucellosis infection in camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Khartoum State, Sudan. A total of 415 camels in 39 herds were included in the study from Karare (60), Omdurman (70), Ombeda (77), and East Nile (208) localities. Of these, 58.6% (243 out of 415) and 41.4% (172 out of 415) were female and male camels respectively. A total of 415 blood samples were collected and screened by RBPT. Twenty four samples tested positive giving an individual prevalence rate of 5.8% (24 􀵗415 ). All RBPT positive reactors were further tested by c-ELISA for confirmation. C-ELISA confirmed 21 seropositive cases out of 24 RBPT reactors (87.5%). Eighteen herds were found seropositive among the 39 herds included in the study giving herd prevalence of 46% (18 􀵗39). The prevalence of the disease was slightly higher in Omdurman 10 %, Ombeda 7.8 %, East Nile 4.8 % and Karrare 1.7 % with a significant statistical difference (P < 0.20). Seroprevalence of Brucella in female camels was 6.2 % relatively higher than that of male camels which was 5.2 %. There was also a significant increase in seropositivity with respect to increasing herd size (p < 0.20). Seroprevelance was 0.8 % in small herds (< 10), 3.1 % in medium herds (10-20) and 8.8 % in large herds (> 20). Immature animals (< 4 years) had statistically significant lower reactors than adult camels (> 4 years) (p < 0.20). In this study the seroprevalence of Brucella was 4 % in young and 8.5 % in adult camels. Mixed rearing of camels with other ruminants (cattle, sheep and goat) showed a significant effect on the prevalence of camel brucellosis (P <0.20). Camels reared with other ruminants showed a seroprevalence of 10.6% which was higher than that in camels kept alone 5.2%. Conversely, governorate, sex, breed, herd type, feeding, management IV type, production type, contact with other camel herds, source of new camel to the herd , milking hygiene, herd man education, awareness of brucellosis, awareness of fetus and fetal membrane disposal and veterinary supervision were not found significantly associated with brucellosis (p > 0.20) in the univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis showed that herd size comprising more than 20 camels was significantly associated with seroprevalence of camel brucellosis (ExpB=9.324; 95% CI: 1.1 – 74.2; P<0.05). The results of the present study provide the status of seropositivity to Brucella in camels in Khartoum State and the risk factors that contribute to seropositivity in dromedaries and showed that brucellosis is widely distributed disease among camel herds in Khartoum State.