Bluetongue disease in small ruminants in south western Ethiopia: cross-sectional sero-epidemiological study

Abstract

Abstract Objective The status of bluetongue disease, vectors for transmission of the disease and the serotypes involved are not clearly known in Ethiopia. This sero-epidemiological study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of bluetongue in small ruminants of South Western Ethiopia. Result 422 serum samples were screened for the presence of bluetongue virus (BTV) specific antibodies using competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) and 30.6% (129/422) (confidence interval CI 26.2–35%) of the sheep and goat serum samples were found positive. Multivariate analysis of several risk factors like age, sex, altitude, body condition and species of animals were studied and it was observed that species of animals, age and altitude had significant influence (P 0.05) effect on seropositivity to bluetongue.

Keywords

• Bluetongue
• c-ELISA
• Risk factors
• South West Ethiopia
• Seroprevalence
• Small ruminants