Assessment of the prevalence of heartwater in domestic ruminants in Benin

作者：Farougou S^*; Adakal H; Boko C

来源：Revue de Medecine Veterinaire, 2013, 164(12): 572-576.

• heartwater
• serum PC-ELISA
• cattle
• sheep
• Benin

Heartwater remains one of the constraints to the development of ruminants in tropical areas of Africa. In order to assess the prevalence of this disease transmitted by ticks of the genus Amblyomma, a cross-sectional study was conducted in Benin in sheep and cattle. For this purpose, serum samples taken at once on sheep and cattle of both sexes and different age groups (less than a year and more than one year) classes were analyzed by Polyclonal Competitive-test ELISA (PC-ELISA) for the detection of antibodies against Ehrlichia ruminantium, the causative agent of heartwater. Of 155 bovine sera tested, 60 were positive with an overall prevalence of 38.7%. The overall prevalence in sheep (n = 160) was 28.1%. Both in cattle and sheep, animals less than a year had lower seroprevalence than the ones above one year (p <0.05). Females had also a higher seroprevalence than males (p <0.001). The results of this study confirm the existence of Ehrlicha ruminantium infection in Benin as well in cattle as in sheep regardless of age group. It is therefore important to take steps to include heartwater in plans against large enzootic livestock diseases.

• 出版日期2013-12