Review on Small Ruminant Brucellosis in Ethiopia - Abstract
Ethiopia, one of the sub-Saharan African countries, is characterized by the presence of strong correlation between a high burden of zoonotic diseases and poverty. The country has the largest and second largest livestock and human population respectively in Africa. These populations have very high close contact and/or relationship between them which make the country vulnerable to the spread of different zoonotic diseases. Because of this, there are a large number of zoonotic diseases that occur endemically. Brucellosis is one of the top five neglected zoonotic diseases and has been causing significant public and economic impact both in humans and animals. Studies, conducted so far, indicate that the disease is endemic and the main challenging one. According to the studies, human brucellosis has been reported from different geographical areas of the country with sero- prevalence range between 2.15 % to 48.3% (2006 -2021). In most of studies, it becomes increase from time to time and/or its single digit before 2009 (4.8% in 2006, 3.78 in 2007 & 3.6% in 2009) to its double digit
prevalence (29.4% & 34.1% in 2009;16% in 2012; 10.6% in 201; 31.5%, 34.9% & 48.3% in 2021). This increment clearly shows that how much the disease is a future threatens zoonotic disease in the country. On the other hand, small ruminant brucellosis reports (between the years 2015-2021) indicate the prevalence range of 0.24 to 13.7%. A study from Bale Zone, Oromia region reported an overall 6.5% and 2.9% animal level and 50% and 22% flock level seroprevalence tested by RBPT and CFT respectively. This untouched area report reveals how much the disease has widespread characteristics in the country. But, there is a lack of controlling activity and community awareness and information communication. Therefore, actual implementation of prevention and control measures, community awareness, further studies and continuous review to provide compiled information and to understand the transmission dynamics of the disease is required.