Title : Risk factors associated with the outbreak of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in Chisamba District, Zambia
Abstract:
Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is a highly contagious and severe infectious disease of cattle that is listed as a notifiable disease of cattle by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), which can lead to severe losses of cattle. Recently in the year 2022, two districts in Zambia, Chibombo and Chisamba, recorded outbreaks of CBPP. Livestock farmers lost their cattle through a mass slaughter exercise in order to halt the spread of CBPP to nearby districts. It was thus the objective of this study to determine the risk factors that facilitated the occurrence of the disease in the district of Chisamba and assess the knowledge of cattle farmers on CBPP. Chisamba district is known for having many farms and for its agricultural activity hence the impact of a CBPP outbreak on the economy cannot be ignored. Data was collected using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised of a total of 42 questions, divided into three sections which were demographic information of the participants, cattle management practices on the farms, and knowledge on CBPP of the participants. The questionnaire was administered to 55 participants who comprised of both commercial (10) and small-scale livestock farmers (45) in Chisamba district. Only adults (18 years and above) who owned cattle or were farm workers actively involved in cattle management, and had agreed to participate by way of a signed consent, were enrolled in the study. A snowball sampling technique was employed to select the participants, and the farms were selected using purposive sampling.
Of the 55 farms, 2 farms had recorded cases of CBPP while 53 farms recorded no case at all. Eight risk factors were assessed and these were age group of cattle, sex of cattle most affected, number of cattle, mode of feeding, source of water, trading in cattle, access to veterinary services, and housing facility of cattle. Among the factors investigated in the study, trading of cattle (p-value = 0.039: RR = 1.238, 95% CI), was strongly associated with the occurrence of CBPP, suggesting that the unregulated buying of animals and mixing them with the old healthy herds could have precipitated the CBPP outbreak in the district. Moreover, the low numbers (13.8%) of participants with some knowledge of CBPP and the factors associated with it was worrying. This study therefore recommends that the government and relevant bodies as well farmers must strictly check the health status of animals before they can engage in cattle trading. Furthermore, veterinarians should regularly engage livestock farmers and teach them diseases of economic importance such as CBPP.
