Bovine viral diarrhea virus and associated risk factors sero-prevalence in dairy herds of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan

Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) is one of the most frequent and economically important viral infections in cattle in various countries around the world. The purpose of the study was to investigate the sero-prevalence of BVD virus and associated risk factors in dairy herds of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.In the present study, total of 300 blood samples were screened, among these 38 blood samples were for both cattle and buffaloes population. Sero-prevalence was found higher in cattle (18%) as compared to buffaloes (7.33%). As a whole 12.66% sero-prevalence of BVDV was detected in the tested animals.Data was statistically analyzed by using chi square test. It was observed that isolation of newly purchased animals (P=.014), workers visiting other farms (P=.013), mixed farming (P=.015) and veterinary services (P=.009) were potential risk factors associated with BVD virus. Distinctive consideration should be given for addressing identified risk factors of this viral infection like to check the status of before allowing entry of newly purchased animals into herds, discouraging the workers visiting other farms, mixed farming, veterinary services and encouraging culling of animals with more history of abortion.