Epidemiology of BVD and persistently infected cattle across urban and peri-urban dairy farms in central, northern, and southern parts of Ethiopia.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is an economically significant disease affecting both domestic and wild ruminant species. The causative agent is bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) of the genus Pestivirus within the family Flaviviridae. In Ethiopia, information on the disease to initiate prevention and control measures is scarce. Hence, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of BVD and persistently infected cattle and identify the associated risk factors in dairy farms situated in urban and peri-urban areas. METHODOLOGY: An Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique was used to test serum samples collected from 1634 dairy cattle in 180 herds. Univariate analysis was conducted to assess the association between independent and outcome variables, and those with a significant association with the outcome variables were considered for a multivariable binary logistic regression model to identify potential risk factors. RESULTS: The study revealed an overall antibody and antigen prevalence of 28.4% (95% confidence interval (CI): 26.2-30.6%) and 1.5% (95% confidence interval: 1.04-2.3%), respectively. The true within- and between-herd- sero-prevalence of BVD was 49.1% and 67.8%, respectively. The study also revealed a 0.94% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53-1.77) animal level and 6.4% (95% CI: 0.53-10.9) herd level prevalence of persistently infected animals. The study location, body condition score (BCS), diarrhea, herd size, origin of animals, and calf congenital anomalies were significantly associated with the prevalence of BVD (P&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.05). Location, BCS, herd size, and origin of the animals were identified as potential risk factors (p&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that BVD is well established in commercial dairy farms, suggesting the need to design strong prevention and control measures. Future studies should be encouraged to determine the genetic diversity of the viruses in the country.