Seroprevalence of Brucella spp and related risk factors in cattles from Laghouat district, South Algeria

Abstract

Brucellosis of cattle is endemic in Africa, including Algeria, and various studies have revealed a wide range of seroprevalences. The study’s aims were to assess the prevalence of Brucella spp using the ELISA test and to evaluate the related risk factors in cattle. A cross-sectional study was performed on 1393 cattle from the Laghouat area. An organized questionnaire was used to gather a wide range of animal information (age, gender, breed, husbandry system and geographic location). The obtained seroprevalence was 6.2% (95% CI: 5.1-6.7). Risk factors were evaluated using univariate analysis, at 5% level of significance (i.e. p<0,05). The results revealed that significant risk factors were: age between two and five years (p=0.000), crossbreeds (p=0.03), semi-extensive husbandry system (p=0.01) and animals from the Gueltat Sidi Saad (GSS) daïra (p=0.02). This demonstrated that cattle brucellosis is endemic in the Laghouat district; consequently, preventive measures should be adopted to minimize the disease spread to both animals and humans.