Seroprevalence of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Slaughtered Pigs in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an acute infectious viral disease of livestock that occurs mainly in cattle although spill over of infections has been observed in sheep and pigs. Although FMD is endemic in Nigeria and has been reported in cattle, there is no evidence of the disease in pigs. For this study, blood samples collected between June and August 2013 from 364 apparently healthy, unvaccinated adult pigs slaughtered at a major abattoir in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria were screened for FMD virus serotype O antibodies using a commercial ELISA kit. The pigs (237 females and 127 males) were sourced from different parts of the region. Results showed an overall seroprevalence of 46.2% with 40.9% of the males and 49.0% of the females being positive. These findings suggest high prevalence of porcine FMD in slaughtered pigs at this abattoir, as the animals were not vaccinated. Thus, there is need for continuous surveillance of the disease among pigs in Nigeria. This will help to ascertain the burden of the disease so that appropriate control measures can be put in place to curtail its further spread among pigs, and possible transmission between pigs and cattle.