Sero-prevalence of Bovine Brucellosis and associated risk factors in mbeya region, Southern highlands of Tanzania

A cross-sectional study was conducted to establish the seroprevalence of brucellosis and associated risk factors in indigenous and exotic breeds of cattle from 178 farms in Mbeya region. A total of 1211 cattle (929exotic cattle from 108 commercial farms and 282 indigenous cattle from 70 traditional farms) were tested for Brucella antibodies using the Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) and competitive Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (c-ELISA) as screening and confirmatory tests, respectively. The overall animal-level seroprevalence was 9.3%; 11.3% (95% CI: 9.4–13.5) in indigenous cattle and 2.8% (95% CI:1.4–5.6) in exotic cattle. Further, the overall herd level seroprevalence was 32.0%; 50.5% (95% CI: 40.9–59.9) in indigenous cattle and 4.2% (95% CI: 1.3–12.4) in exotic cattle. Infections were higher in cattle aged 6–10 years old, (39.8%; 95% CI: 31.2–49.1) followed by those aged 1–5 years (5.8%; 95% CI: 4.8–6.6) and 11–15years old (2.7%; 95% CI: 0.8–8). When compared to cattle sampled from herds size of 1–50, those sampled from the herd sizes of 51–100 and 101–150 had higher odds of brucellosis seropositivity [(OR=3.6, CI: 1.76–7.16, p