Sero-Prevalence of Bovine Brucellosis and its Associated Risk Factors in Becho District, South West Shewa, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted in selected areas of Becho district, Oromia regional state from December, 2018 to May, 2019 to estimate the sero-prevalence of bovine brucellosis in the study area and identify the associated risk factors for the seropositivity. Simple random sampling method was used for sampling each herd and animal during serum collection, and risk factors accessed through interviewee of the animal owners. A total of 384 serum samples were collected from cattle of above 6 months of age and sera were initially screened with Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) and those samples found positive by RBPT were further tested by Indirect Enzyme-linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (I-ELISA) for confirmation. Based on the result, 13(3.39%) were positive using RBPT and the overall sero-prevalence of bovine brucellosis at animal-level estimated to be 4(1.04%) based on I-ELISA result. At herds' level, an overall sero-prevalence of 5.48% was obtained. Pearson’s Chi-square revealed that the presence of abortion history, retained fetal membrane and breed type were significantly associated with the seropositivity of bovine brucellosis (p<0.05) with Chi-square value of 38.2, 5.76 and 3.99 and P-value of 0.000, 0.016 and 0.046, respectively. The odds of having brucellosis increased by 12.4 times in cow with history of abortion compared to cow without the history, increased by 4.5 times in the animal suffered from history of retained placenta compared to cow with no history of retained placenta and 3.1 times in cross-breed than indigenous breeds. In conclusion, the study demonstrate that the prevalence of bovine brucellosis was low in Becho district. However, poor understanding of brucellosis among communities and a high level of risky practice might result in an increased transmission between animals and zoonoses in risky group personnels. Thus, awareness creation about impacts of the disease, zoonotic importance, risk factors and method of prevention were recommended.