Review on epidemiological features of Mycobaterium bovis at the human, cattle and wildlife interface in Ethiopia

Abstract

Mycobacterium bovis is an intracellular, non-motile, facultative, weakly Grampositive acid-fast bacillus which belongs to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The pathogen affects all age groups of susceptible hosts of domestic, wild animals and human. In cattle, Bovine tuberculosis is one of the endemic chronic diseases of cattle that have long been recorded in Ethiopia. The disease has been reported from several parts of the country mainly based on tuberculin tests and abattoir inspections. Studies undertaken in several parts of the country have indicated that, the individual animal and the herd level prevalence rate of Bovine tuberculosis is ranging from 0.8% to 42.5% and from 7.02% to 79.3% respectively. Whereas the prevalence of the disease reported from different slaughterhouses of the country varies from 1.5% to 24.7%. Mycobaterium Bovis was also confirmed to be a cause of human infections in the country. However, very little information on the extent of Mycobaterium Bovis either as an animal or human health problem are available and the current actual prevalence rate of Bovine tuberculosis at a national level is yet unknown. No infection due to Mycobaterium Bovis was reported in Ethiopia wildlife population so far. In Ethiopia, cattle breeds, age, sex, body condition score and herd size, management condition, geographical origin, consumption of raw milk and close contact to livestock are most commonly identified risk factors for spread of Mycobaterium Bovis. Although, the disease represents a potential health hazard to all susceptible hosts, the economic effects of the disease are not well studied. With the exception of few attempts like condemnation of carcass and organs during meat inspection, culling of infected animals in some government owned farms and pasteurization of milk, effective disease control strategies do not yet established in our country.