A Cross-Sectional Survey of Brucellosis in Small Ruminants of District Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan

Background: Brucellosis is a bacterial zoonotic disease having a wide host range and global zoonotic importance. It has great public health importance in most of the countries, where livestock is a major source of food and income. High-risk individuals include animal handlers that are at great risk of getting an infection because bacterial transmission occurs from all body fluids from an infected animal. Objective: A randomized cross sectional survey was conducted to check the period prevalence of brucellosis in small ruminants in different areas of district Jhang. Methods: Serum samples were collected along with a questionnaire for this purpose. Different risk factors like age, sex, specie, feeding protocol, abortion history, type of herd, herd size, location were observed using a questionnaire. A total of 280 serum samples (136 caprine and 144 ovine) were collected and subjected to Rose Bengal precipitation test for screening of brucellosis. Results: Overall sero-positivity was 5.5% after confirmation with Indirect ELISA. 21 samples out of 280 were seropositive after RBPT screening and 14 out of 21 were confirmed seropositive for brucellosis by indirect ELISA. According to p value after statistical analysis, all the risk factors except feeding protocols, abortion and age in the case of sheep had no significant results. According to the odds ratio, all the selected risk factors have an association with disease prevalence. In females (6.25%) there is more sero-positivity than male (1.39%). Sheep (8.09%) had more seropositivity than goats (2.08%). Out of three age groups ( 5 years)>5 years (6.78%) animals had more seropositivity than 50 animals (10.94%) had more seropositivity than ≤ 10 (3.17%), 10-30 (1.61%) and 30-50 (10.34%).Mix animal species within-herd had more chance of sero-positivity than the pure herd. Grazing practice for feeding of animals (7.02%) had more sero-positivity than stall feeding (1.83%). Conclusion: Brucellosis was endemic in the study design area which is a risk not only for the animal’s population but also for humans.