Public Awareness, Prevalence and Potential Determinants of Bovine Tuberculosis in Selected Districts of Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Purpose Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is infectious chronic disease of animals mainly caused by bacillus Mycobacterium bovis. It is known endemic disease of cattle in Ethiopia. In the current study sites, there is little information on bovine tuberculosis. Thus, this study was aimed to assess public awareness; and estimate prevalence and potential a risk factors of bovine tuberculosis. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted, November 2018 to May 2019, on dairy cattle randomly selected from smallholder farms of Arba Minch Zuria and Chencha districts. Comparative intradermal tuberculin test (CIDT) was used in the diagnosis of bTB in dairy animals. CIDT was administered to 221 dairy cattle. Questionnaire survey was performed on 110 smallholders to assess risk factors accountable for the event of bTB in human population. Results 8.2% animal level prevalence of bTB was documented in the study sites. Dairy cattle with age of 4 to 8 eight years were 34% more likely to be affected by bTB less than 4 years age cattle (OR=1.34). However, factors like housing, body condition, herd size and parity were not significantly related with the event of bTB. The assessment of bTB awareness was shown 29.7% participants knew that cattle could be infected, and 13.4% of the respondents believed that it can spread from animal to human and vice versa. Besides, 66.1% of participants had habit for consumption of raw milk and soured milk products. Moreover, respondent’s attitude about zoonoses and consequences of bTB was risky. Conclusion Present study discloses that bTB is animal health problem affecting dairy cattle in Gamo zone, Southern Ethiopia. Based on the current findings, public awareness creation, bovine tuberculosis test and segregation strategy should be applied to minimize the public health hazards and risk factors for bovine origin tuberculosis.

Systematic Review of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Dairy Farmers and Consumers Towards Bovine Tuberculosis in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

“…Seventeen African and two Asian studies investigated farmers’ awareness that bTB is a zoonosis. Only 12 of these studies explored this zoonotic awareness after asking farmers whether they knew bTB existed (33–35, 38, 40, 42, 46, 48, 62, 65). Of these 12 studies, four reported awareness that bTB is a zoonosis as the proportion of farmers that said ‘yes’ to this question among those who previously confirmed awareness that bTB exists (33, 34, 42, 48) (blue lines, Figure 2).…”

“…Few studies investigated whether farmers knew that raw milk and dairy (Africa n=8; Asia n=2) or raw meat (Africa n=6) consumption could result in zoonotic infection with bTB (28, 30, 31, 33, 44, 62). Except for the farmer populations investigated by Kazoora et al (44), most studies found this knowledge was prevalent among less than 30% of the farmers interviewed.…”

“…Farmer population types are denoted by; HM (herdsmen), CO (cattle owners), PA (pastoralists), FW (dairy farm workers or owners), and LK (livestock keepers). Note that three studies had data excluded from the forest plot: two for not reporting frequency, total or both (27, 52) and one for reporting a frequency larger than the total (62).…”

Unveiling insights into bovine tuberculosis: A comprehensive review

“…Between 1953 and 1980, this program was successful in many European Union member states as well as seven countries in central Europe ( Jemal, 2016 ). It is necessary to provide specific hygiene standards for foods of animal origin to stop diseased animals from getting into the food chain and lower the hazards connected with consuming tainted milk and meat ( Tora et al ., 2022 ). Systems for inspecting meat need to be improved and intended to stop the general population from consuming tainted goods.…”