First-time detection of tuberculosis in goats by single intradermal tuberculin test in the northern part of Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross sectional study was conducted on randomly selected300 goats in five Sub-districts of Kolla Tembien District from June 2012 toNovember 2012 to investigate the epidemiology of tuberculosis in goats usingsingle intradermal tuberculin skin test and post-mortem examination. Wellstructured questionnaire was also administered to animal owners to assess theirawareness about the importance of animals for transmission tuberculosis tohumans. Chi-square statistic was used to analyse the data and a p-value of lessthan 0.05 was considered statistically significant (STATA version 11). Theoverall animal prevalence of TB in goats was 2.33%. From a total of 33flocks/herds examined, 4(12.12%) contained at least a positive animal. Therewas significant difference (p<0.05) in prevalence of caprine tuberculosisamong age groups and among Sub-districts. However, the individual animalprevalence was not affected by sex and flock size (p>0.05). Grosstuberculous lesions were detected in two tuberculin positive (suspected) goatsthat were slaughtered for confirmation of tuberculosis lesion. Acid-fastbacilli were detected in granuloma. Out of the 33 household heads interviewed,21 (63.64%) had awareness of TB. However, 12 (36.36%) did not have theawareness of TB. Of the respondents, 29 (87.88%) replied that they consumeboiled milk and 4 (12.12%) responded that they consume both raw and boiledmilk. In conclusion, this study showed the occurrence of tuberculosis in goatsin Kolla Tembien District. Isolation and characterization of the mycobacterialspecies which infect goats are important. In addition, the zoonotic nature ofthe disease should be communicated to the public.