Sero-Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated With Foot and MouthDisease in Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi State Nigeria.

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral transboundary disease of both domestic and wild cloven hoofed animals. It has low mortality rate in adult but with morbidity rate of up to 100% in susceptible animal populations. This research work was designed to determine the seroprevalence of FMD and risk factors associated with it in four districts of Bauchi local government, Bauchi State Nigeriausing ELISA kit and a structured questionnaire survey. Blood samples were collected froma total of 270 cattle (56 males and 214 females). The data generated were analysed using SPSS and chi-square test was used for comparison of variables. The result showed that out of the 270 serum samples tested, 171 (63.3%) were found to be positive for FMDV antibodies.Individual district prevalence rates were Bauchi (79.4%), Galambi (50%), Miri (61.1%) and Zungur (64.3%). No statistical difference (P>0.0001) was noted in the distribution of the positive samples among the four districts studied. Breeds distribution showed that Muturu had 2/2 (100%) FMD seropositivity, followed by Sokoto Gudali (Bokoloji) and white Fulani (Bunaji) having 2/3 (66.67%) and 153/235 (65.11%) respectively; and the lowest prevalence was among the Cross breed 14/30 (46.67%). There was no statistical significance (P>0.0001) observed among the different breeds. The seroprevalence of FMD among the different sexes showed the female cattle have 155/214 (72.43%) as against the male cattle with 16/56 (28.57 %). There was significant difference (P≤0.0001) in the seroprevalence of FMD between the female and male cattle in the study area. There were significant differences (P≤0.0001) in the seroprevalence of FMD in the cattle population among the four districts. On the overall, serotype O had the highest prevalence (83.3%) followed by serotype A (76.7%) and least was the serotype SAT2 (61.1%). With the exception of Miri district where serotype SAT2 was higher (66.7%) than the other two, all the districts exhibited prevalence of the serotypes in descending order of prevalence as Serotype O, A and SAT2. Due to the high prevalence of FMD in the study area, it is therefore important thatsurveillance of FMD should be a continuous process so that an effective control measure against the disease could be taken. Key words; FMD, ELISA, Questionnaire survey, Cattle breeds, Blood