Seroprevalence of bovine brucellosis in northern Plateau State, North Central Nigeria

To determine the seroprevalence of brucellosis among cattle in some local government areas (LGA) of the northern part of Plateau State, Nigeria. Sera obtained from a total of 270 randomly selected cattle from different herds in the four selected LGAs were for Brucellaantibodies using the Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT). An overall brucellosis seroprevalence of 9.6% (26/270) was obtained. The seroprevalence of Brucella antibodies among the cattle across the LGA ranged from 0%-37.3% with Riyom and Bassa LGA having the lowest and highest seroprevalence respectively while Barkin Ladi LGA had no sero-positive cattle. Females had a higher percentage of seropositives compared to males while cattle reared under extensive system of management had a higher (11.6%) percentage of sero-positives compared to cattle kept under the intensive system of management. However, there was no statistically significant (P>0.05) association between serological status and sex or management practice. The results of this study indicates that bovine brucellosis is still a problem among the cattle population in Plateau State, Nigeria. And the public and other animals are at risk of exposure to the disease agent in these animals which are still shedding the organism.