A study on the sero epidemiology of African horse sickness in three woredas of Sidama Zone, Hawassa, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted in the three woredas of Sidama zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPRS) with the aim of determining the overall prevalence of African horse sickness (AHS) in equines and the effect of putative risk factors on the prevalence of AHS. A total of 230 equines (66 donkeys, 161 horses and 3 mules) were included. Serological examination was conducted using blocking enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (blocking ELISA) revealing a point prevalence of 46.97, 13.66 and 33.33% AHS in donkeys, horses and mules, respectively. The overall prevalence of AHS in equines in Sidama zone of the three districts was 23.47%. The prevalence at Dale, Hula and Wonsho woreda’ was 52.72, 10.47 and 17.98%, respectively. Statistical analysis of the result showed significance difference in prevalence among donkeys, horses and mules (P< 0.05). The prevalence of 52.72% in midland and 14.28% in highland revealed statistically significant difference (P<0.05). The difference observed between Dale and Hula, and Dale and Wonsho was seen to be statistically different, but no difference was seen between Wonsho and Hula. Among the hypothesized risk factors, agro ecology is the predominant risk for the prevalence of AHS and this was asserted by P-value (P<0.05).   Key words: African horse sickness, enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA), equines, sero-epidemiology, Sidama, prevalence.