A comparative study of the sero-prevalence of peste des petits ruminants virus among districts of different Agro-ecological Zones in Tanzania
Loading...
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
East African Journal of Science, Technology and Innovation
Abstract
Peste des petits Ruminants (PPR), a disease affecting sheep and goats, was confirmed in Tanzania in
the year 2018. Since then the disease has continued to spread into different districts, causing significant
socio-economic losses to livestock keepers. This study aimed at determining the sero-prevalence of PPR
in 32 districts from the coastal, semi-arid and plateau ecological zones, respectively. Sera samples were
collected from sheep and goats, and analysed by competitive Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay
(c-ELISA). Findings indicated that six (18.8%) districts had very high PPR sero-prevalence of which
four (66.7%; Chamwino, Kondoa, Mvomero and Kilosa) belong to the semi-arid ecological zone and
two (33.3%; Bagamoyo and Mkuranga) to the coastal ecological zone. Three districts (9.4%) had high
PPR sero-prevalence, all from the semi-arid ecological zone. Twelve districts had low PPR sero-
prevalence of which two (16.7%) were from semi-arid, one (8.3%) from coastal and nine (75.0%) from
plateau ecological zones. A zero PPR sero-prevalence was recorded in three districts and eight districts
from semi-arid and plateau ecological zones, respectively. There was a statistically significant
difference in sero-positivity between the different ecological zones, χ2 (2) = 9.121, p = 0.010, with a mean
rank sero-positivity of 24.7% for coastal zone, 12.0% for plateau and 20.8% for semi-arid zone. Post hoc
pairwise comparison with Bonferroni correction for multiple tests showed a statistically significant
difference between plateau and semi-arid zones (p = 0.032). Although the coastal zone had a higher
mean rank positivity than the plateau zone, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.083).
The study suggests a zonal predisposition of PPR sero-prevalence with districts in the semi-arid and
coastal zones having significantly higher values compared to those in the plateau ecological zones.
Efforts for control of the disease need to concentrate in those two high risk ecological zones.
Description
Journal article
Keywords
Ecological zones, PPR, Sero-prevalence, Tanzania
Citation
East African Journal of Science, Technology and Innovation, Vol. 1 (3): 2020