Seroprevalence of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Infection in Some Wildlife and Cattle in Bauchi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is an important transboundary viral disease of both domestic and wild cloven-hoofed animals characterized by high morbidity with devastating consequence on the livestock worldwide. Despite the endemic nature of FMD in Nigeria, little is known about the epidemiology of the disease at the wildlife-livestock interface level. To address this gap, blood samples were collected between 2013 and 2015 from some wildlife and cattle, respectively, within and around the Yankari Game Reserve and Sumu Wildlife Park in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Wild animals were immobilized using a combination of etorphine hydrochloride (M99 ® Krüger-Med South Africa) at 0.5-2 mg/kg and azaperone (Stresnil ® , Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Pty.) Ltd., South Africa) at 0.1 mg/kg using a Dan-Inject ® rifle (Dan-Inject APS, Sellerup Skovvej, Denmark) fitted with a 3 ml dart syringe and for reversal, naltrexone (Trexonil ® Kruger-Med South Africa) at 1.5 mg IM was used, and cattle were restrained by the owners for blood collection. Harvested sera from blood were screened for presence of antibodies against the foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) using the PrioCHECK ® 3ABC NSP ELISA kit, and positive samples were serotyped using solid-phase competitive ELISA, (IZSLER Brescia, Italy). Out of the 353 sera collected from cattle and wildlife 197 (65.7%) and 13 (24.5%) (P < 0.05), respectively, tested positive for antibodies to the highly conserved nonstructural 3ABC protein of FMDV by the FMDV-NS blocking ELISA. Classification of cattle into breed and sex showed that detectable antibodies to FMDV were higher (P < 0.05) in White Fulani 157 (72.8%) than in Red Bororo 23 (39.7%) and Sokoto Gudali 17 (33.3%) breeds of cattle, whereas in females, detectable FMDV antibodies were higher (P < 0.05) 150 (72.8%) than in males 47 (50.0%). In the wildlife species, antibodies to FMDV were detected in the waterbucks 2 (28.6%), elephant 1 (25.0%), wildebeests 4 (33.3%), and elands 6 (25.0%). Four serotypes of FMDV: O, A, SAT 1, and SAT 2 were detected from the 3ABC positive reactors in waterbucks, elephants, wildebeests, and elands. e results showed presence of antibodies to FMDV in some wildlife and cattle and suggested that wildlife could equally play an important role in the overall epidemiology of FMD in Nigeria. FMD surveillance system, control, and prevention program should be intensified in the study area.

Estimation of foot-and-mouth disease virus sero-prevalence rates using novel computational approach for the susceptible bovine population in India during the period 2008–2021

“…There is no provision in the standard sero-surveillance activity in India to provide a population-level estimation of sero-prevalence rates. This observation is true for other countries as well, where FMD is endemic 29,[33][34][35][36] . In simple words, no statistical approach and computational tool are available till date for estimating the state and national-level FMDV prevalence rate in India.…”

“…This necessitates advanced statistical methods and tools for estimating the sero-prevalence rate at population-level using test results from NSP-ELISA. However, attempts have been made to estimate the FMDV sero-prevalence through cross sectional sample-based sero-surveillance in cattle 29 , 33 , 34 and small ruminants 29 in Ethiopia, cattle and wild life in Nigeria 35 , wild life and buffalo population in eastern Africa 36 , small ruminants in Kenya 2 , etc. In all these studies, the sero-prevalence results were limited to sample proportions (e.g., total sample: 384; positive sample: 76; sero-prevalence rate: 19.79%) 29 , 33 – 36 without going for country-level estimate of FMDV sero-prevalence rate.…”

Foot-and mouth disease and peste des petits ruminants – the role of wildlife in the epidemiology and control of diseases

“…Serosurveillance of FMDV in wildlife in Tanzania showed that 76.3% of tested buffalo sera samples were positive for FMDV using non-structure FMDV ELISA test for detection of antibodies directed against 3ABC non-structural proteins and confirming natural infection (34). The results of similar studies in wildlife species in Nigeria showed the 3ABC positive reactors in some waterbucks, wildebeests and elands and suggested that wildlife could equally play an important role in the overall epidemiology of FMD in Nigeria (7). North American mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) were found susceptible to experimental FMDV infection with significant mortality and with deer-to-deer and deer-to-cattle transmission (46).…”

Genetic Polymorphisms of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus

“…Thus, the incidence of cattle ranges from 39.7 to 72.8% (in various animal breeds). Also, antibodies to FMDV were found in waterbucks, elephant, wildebeests, and other animals [26]. It is important to note that the protective properties of vaccines are effective only against infection with the same subtype [24].…”