Assessment of abattoir workers and livestock keepers’ knowledge and practices regarding bovine tuberculosis in Senegal

Abstract

Background and Aim: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major zoonosis in Senegal, accounting for 33% of all zoonotic disease reports in 2019. The aim of this study was to assess bovine TB knowledge and practices of abattoir workers in Dakar and livestock farmers in Pout. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on knowledge and practices of Dakar abattoir workers (butchers, transporters, sellers, and animal health workers) and Pout livestock farmers regarding bovine tuberculosis. R 3.2.6 was used for descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and Fischer’s exact tests, and STATA 13 was used for univariate and multivariate logistic regressions. Results: A total of 274 abattoir workers and livestock farmers were interviewed: 103 (37.6%) from Dakar abattoir and 171 (62.4%) from Pout farms. Respondents were predominantly male (75.2%), aged 30–59 years (67.5%), and had at least 10 years of experience (51.8%). The majority (98.2%) were aware of TB, but only 31.4% knew that it was zoonotic. Only 2.5% (7/274) of participants had satisfactory TB knowledge, which differed according to study area, experience, profession, and good practice (p = 0.05). Abattoir workers were 11 times more likely than farmers to have good TB knowledge (odds ratio [OR] = 11.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1–114.3). Respondents with 5–10 years of experience were 16.9 times more likely to have good knowledge of TB (OR = 16.9; 95% CI = 1.7–163.4). The majority of participants preferred raw milk (83.6%) and undercooked meat (83.6%). Only 29.6% of participants had good practices, which differed with respect to study area, gender, marital status, age, occupation, and knowledge of TB (p = 0.05). Age (OR = 3.3; 95% CI, 1.3–8.3) was identified as a good practice adoption predictor. Conclusion: Globally, there was a low level of good knowledge and practices regarding TB among respondents. There is a need for mass education through multi-sectoral collaboration between health professionals (humans and animals) using a One Health approach. Keywords: animal, human, public health, tuberculosis, zoonosis.