A participatory epidemiological study was conducted with cattle keepers in Jimma zone, Ethiopia, between October 2018 and October 2019 to identify the causes of abortion in cattle. Data collection involved 20 group discussions (each comprising 8–12 people) in 10 peasant associations. Methods used in group discussions included semi-structured interviews, pairwise ranking, matrix scoring, proportional piling, and seasonal calendar. The result of pairwise ranking identified brucellosis, leptospirosis, listeriosis, trypanosomosis, and Foot and mouth disease (FMD) in decreasing order as the most important causes of abortion in cattle. Mechanical or physical agents were also identified as less important non-infectious causes of cattle abortion in study areas. A very strong agreement (W = 0.880; P < 0.001) was observed among informant groups in pairwise ranking as to the most important cause of cattle abortion in study areas. Proportional piling showed that brucellosis was responsible for the highest proportion of abortions (39.9%) followed by leptospirosis (22.5%) and listeriosis (16.3%). A lesser proportion of abortion was attributed to trypanosomosis and FMD which comprise 11.6% and 9.7%, respectively. Matrix scoring showed strong agreement (W = 0.572 to 0.898; p < 0.001) concerning causes of abortion and its clinical signs between informant groups. According to the discussants, brucellosis and FMD tend to occur more frequently in the winter and spring seasons whereas listeriosis and trypanosomosis occurred frequently in the summer and autumn seasons, respectively. Strong agreement was observed among informant groups about the seasonal pattern of occurrence causes of abortion (W = 0.525–0.794; P < 0.001). Participants used medicinal plants and other traditional practices to manage cattle abortion in their areas. Farmers' knowledge should be incorporated to investigate health problems of unknown causes, designing, and implementing the intervention program in the areas.

Background Q fever is a zoonotic disease, caused by Gram negative bacterium C. burnetii, which imparts significant socio-economic burden due to production and reproductive loss (abortion, stillbirth, and infertility) in ruminants and debilitating clinical disease in human populations. While sheep and goats are considered the primary reservoirs of infection to humans, infection can also result from exposure to cattle. Recent studies indicate that in Ethiopia Q fever is a disease of growing public health interest. The top cattle producing region in Ethiopia is the Oromia region and Jimma is the zone that ranks first in the population of cattle within Oromia. While in Jimma zone livestock production plays an important role in people’s livelihoods and nutrition, to date, there is no available report on seroprevalence of Q fever in cattle. This is particularly important due to the low dairy farm biosecurity in Jimma town. This study aimed to evaluate the potential risk for public health from cattle production; a specific objective of this study included the estimation of the seroprevalence of C. burnetii infection and its potential risk factors in dairy cattle and cattle for slaughter in Jimma Town. Results The seroprevalence of C. burnetii in cattle present at dairy farms was significantly lower compared to cattle presented at slaughterhouse [6.17% (95% CI: 3.41–10.13) and 11.79% (95% CI: 7.63–17.17), respectively; (P = 0.04)]. As the age of dairy cattle increase by 1 year, they were 1.51 more likely to be positive of C. burnetii [OR = 1.51 (95%CI: 1.30–1.75; (P = 0.000)]. Cattle managed in semi-intensive production systems were 8.08 more likely to be C. burnetii seropositive compared to intensively managed dairy cattle [OR = 8.08 (95%CI: 1.03–63.68); P = 0.047]. Dairy cattle with access to nuisance animals like dogs, cats and mice were 5.65 more likely to be C. burnetii seropositive compared to dairy cattle without access to these animals. On the other hand, dairy cattle that have no tick infestation are 93% less likely to be seropositive for C. burnetii [OR = 0.07 (95%CI: 0.01–0.74); P = 0.027]. Concerning farm-level data, farms of larger herd sizes were 1.03 more likely to be C. burnetii seropositive than small herd farms [OR = 1.03 (95%CI: 0.99–1.06)]. The result from slaughterhouse indicates that as the age of cattle increase by 1 year their chance of being C. burnetii seropositive increases by 2.27 [OR = 2.27 (95%CI: 1.93–2.68); p = 0.000]. Conclusion Considering its zoonotic and economic burden the seroprevalence of Q fever recorded in this study is of eminent public health concern with a farm-level and slaughterhouse seroprevalence of 6.17 and 11.79% respectively. Based on modifiable risk factors identified in this study, Q fever management plans better be focused on health education and awareness campaigns for abattoir workers and dairy farm workers. Dairy farm Q fever management plans should contemplate improved dairy herd biosecurity with regards to cattle tick infestation, keeping different livestock species segregated and avoiding mixing of herd with others with unknown health status.

Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) has an exceptionally wide host range including sheep. Information on tuberculosis (TB) in sheep is scarce, and there appears to be conflicting opinions about the relative susceptibility of sheep to infection. In Ethiopia, there was no single previous report on tuberculosis in sheep, though mixed farming of cattle and sheep is a common practice. In this study, following the observation of TB-like lesions on sheep died from sheep flock kept in contact with cattle herd, further investigation was conducted on the flock to assess the magnitude of the infection and identify and characterize the causative M. bovis strain. An outbreak investigation was carried out on 26 eligible sheep out of 33 sheep found on the farm. Comparative intradermal tuberculin (CIDT) test, postmortem examination, Mycobacterium culturing, and spoligotyping were the techniques used in the study. The prevalence of TB in the tested sheep was 15% (4/26). All the sheep that were positive to CIDT had gross lesions suggestive of TB. Three of the positive sheep had extensive and multiple lesions. M. bovis was isolated from all four sheep and the strain was identified as spoligotype SBO134. The in-contact dairy cows were screened for TB and 98% (45/46) of the cows tested positive to CIDT. Furthermore, the same strain, SB0134, was also isolated from the two in-contact cows. The isolation of a matching genotype (SB0134) of M. bovis from both species sharing a known epidemiologic link strongly suggests that the sheep flock might have acquired the pathogen from the dairy cows. This warrants strict physical separation of the sheep flock from the cattle herd to prevent such interspecies transmission of M. bovis.

Bovine brucellosis is a serious zoonotic infectious disease with widespread occurrence in developing countries like Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2017 to November 2018 to investigate the prevalence and associated risk factors of brucellosis in breeding female cattle under the traditional production system of the Jimma zone in Ethiopia. Blood samples were collected from a total of 423 breeding female cattle to test the presence of Brucella antibody. The presence of antibody against Brucella spp. was serially tested first by the Rose Bengal Plate test, then positive sera were confirmed using the complement fixation test. Potential risk factors for Brucella seropositivity were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression analysis. An overall 11.6% (95%CI: 6.25 – 16.94) and 4.3% (95%CI: 2.15–5.89) seroprevalence of brucellosis was recorded at herd and animal level, respectively in study areas. We identified age (OR=9.6, 95% CI: 2.08–44.07), breed (OR=4.5, 95%CI: 1.54–12.99), herd size (OR=10.4, 95%CI: 1.27–85.04) and species composition (OR=4.4, 95%CI: 1.31–14.89) as risk factors for Brucella infection. Herd level analysis of risk factor shows that herds kept with sheep and/goats was at higher risk (OR=3.7, 95% CI: 1.25–11.17) of acquired Brucella infection. This result showed that brucellosis was a widely spread disease in the study areas. Thus, important to carry out appropriate control methods and creating awareness on public zoonotic transmissions of brucellosis are recommended. Moreover, further investigation should be carried out to isolate and characterized brucellosis as a cause of reproduction problems in the study areas.

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