Prevalence of <i>Besnoitia besnoiti</i> antibodies in bovine sera and milk in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Besnoitia besnoiti, a re-emergent parasite of cattle in Europe, occurs in many countries of Africa and other parts of the world. Clinical observations and incidental findings of B. besnoiti in cattle have been reported in the Southern and Northern regions of Nigeria, but the prevalence of antibodies against this parasite is not yet known. This investigation was designed to determine the seroprevalence of bovine besnoitiosis in Northern Nigeria. A total of 400 cattle were selected at random through cluster sampling of herds from two Local Government Areas (LGA) each, of 5 States in the region (Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Borno States), between May, 2008 and November, 2009. Sera samples obtained from cows, bulls and calves, and milk from lactating cows with suckling calves were screened with indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique (IFAT) for antibodies to B. besnoiti. Out of the 400 samples 321 (80.3%) were positive for antibodies to B. besnoiti. Cattle sampled in Borno had the highest (87.5%) prevalence of antibodies to B. besnoiti, while those sampled from Katsina State had the least prevalence (62.3%). Wamako LGA of Sokoto State had the highest prevalence of the antibodies (100.0%), whi le Dan Musa LGA in Katsina had the least prevalence (53.0%) among the ten LGA sampled, however, these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Similarly, the overall prevalence of antibodies to B. besnoiti did not vary significantly between bulls (84.0%) and cows (79.0%), or in the dry (83.6%) and wet (77.1%) seasons (p > 0.05). The high prevalence of antibodies to B. besnoiti in cattle in Northern Nigeria indicates an endemic state of the disease in this region.

Clinical and Serological Dynamics ofBesnoitia besnoitiInfection in Three Endemically Infected Beef Cattle Herds

“…Additionally, animal seroprevalence rates reported by convenience sampling of at least 3 herds in other regions, where the disease is also traditionally endemic (i.e. Israel, South Africa and Nigeria), were higher than 50% (Goldman and Pipano, ; Janitschke et al., ; Sambo et al., ).…”

“…Unfortunately, scarce data are available concerning infection dynamics in naturally infected herds worldwide. In the past, 50% seroprevalence rates together with clinical prevalence rates that varied from 2.1% to 49.7% were reported in South Africa and Israel (Bigalke, ; Goldman and Pipano, ; Chatikobo et al., ; Sambo et al., ). Moreover, clinical prevalence rates of 1–10% have been reported in the French Pyrenees (Legrand, ).…”

An update on epidemiology and clinical aspects of besnoitiosis in livestock and wildlife in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review

“…Prevalence of B. caprae infections in sheep in Kenya was 5.45%. In Nigeria, the prevalence was higher in males (84.0%) and in adults (81.7%,) ( Sambo et al, 2014 ; Zango et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Prevalence of B. besnoiti infection ranged from 2% based on histopathology ( Zango et al, 2016 ) to 80.3% based on immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) ( Sambo et al, 2014 ) in Nigeria ( Table 2 ). The highest prevalence of B. besnoiti infections were documented in cattle from Nigeria (80.3%) ( Sambo et al, 2014 ), followed by 39.4% in Mozambique using IFAT ( Alsacia et al, 2017 ). The prevalence of B. besnoiti in wildlife ranged from 3.4 to 20% in African lion and blue wildebeest in Namibia using ELISA and confirmed by immunoblot ( Seltmann et al, 2020 ).…”

Besnoitiose bovina: revisão de literatura

“…A doença apresentou novo destaque na Europa no final do século XX, devido ao aumento no número de casos e expansão da doença (Waap et al, 2014). Na África do Sul foi descrita em várias ocasiões desde a década de 1950 e ainda hoje é con-siderada uma doença endêmica e amplamente distribuída por esses países subsaarianos como Zimbábue (Chatikobo et al 2013), Nigéria (Igbokwe et al, 2009;Sambo et al, 2007;Sambo et al, 2014) África do Sul (Dubey et al, 2013) e Moçambique (Atanásio-Nhacumbe et al, 2017).…”