Epidemiology and public health significance of bovine tuberculosis in and around Sululta District, Central Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 858 dairy cows, 1107 slaughter animals and 58 dairy workers in and around Sululta District to investigate the epidemiology and public health importance of bovine tuberculosis (BTB). To that end, comparative intradermal tuberculin test (CIDT), post-mortem examinations, bacteriological analysis, molecular typing and questionnaire survey were employed. The herd and individual animal level prevalence were 11.4% (98/858) and 20% (9/45), respectively. The individual animal prevalence was affected by farming system, herd size, management system, sex, age, breed and body condition (P<0.05). Abattoir survey showed a prevalence of BTB to be 3.5% (39/1107) based on suspicion of tuberculous lesion. Culture positivity in primary culture media was confirmed in 7.7% (3/39) of tissue samples, 11.1% (5/55) of milk samples and 2.5% (1/40) of nasal swab samples. Genus typing of the nine positive isolates indicated that only 11.1% (1/9) one isolate was positive for the genus Mycobacterium. Among the farm attendants, only 6.9% (4/58) of the farm attendants had awareness on the existence of BTB, 10.3% (6/58) had awareness that milk and meat could be a source of BTB and 79.3% (46/58) had habit of raw milk and raw meat consumption. The study reveals the importance of BTB and poor awareness on the existence, source and transmission of the diseases in the study area call for urgent intervention. Conventional preventive measures and large scale collaborative action to design cost effective preventive and control measures at national level is recommended.  Key words: Bovine tuberculosis, cattle, comparative intradermal tuberculin test (CIDT), epidemiology, public health, Sululta, Ethiopia.