Prevalence of antibodies for Peste des petits des ruminants virus and Brucella and related risk factors in goat herds in urban and peri-urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda

Abstract: The world’s population reached more than 6.9 billion people in July 2011. It is expected that the population growth during the next 40 years will take place mostly in low-income countries and the population increase will be 2.3 billion people during 2011-2050. A rapid urbanization is also expected to result in 57.7 per cent of Africa’s population living in urban areas in 2050. The rapid growth of urban areas is driven by for example economic growth, unemployment, lack of educational opportunities, natural disasters, food insecurity and social instability. In the rapidly growing urban and peri-urban areas, the demand for food is increasing. To satisfy these needs urban and peri-urban agriculture is in many ways essential for food security. Urban and peri-urban agriculture give poor people access to food by providing for self-consumption and can thereby contribute to poverty alleviation and prevent famine. There are also risks related to urban and peri-urban agriculture such as environmental hazards and transmission of for instance zoonotic diseases. Agriculture is the most important source of income for about 66 per cent of the population (34 million) in Uganda. Twenty-five per cent of Uganda’s population is considered poor and most farming is small scale providing for self-consumption. It has been shown that urban agriculture in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, has positive effects on nutrition status and food security. Health risks have though been reported and the most important zoonotic diseases in urban and peri-urban Kampala are food-borne gastroenteritis, bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis and cysticercosis. In low-income countries, like Uganda, goats are important for poor people providing a source of income, meat, manure, milk and an insurance against emergencies. Goats are essential for poverty alleviation in developing countries. The aim of this study was to gain knowledge about urban and peri-urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda and to investigate the prevalence of antibodies for Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) and brucella and related risk factors in goat herds. Brucellosis is considered one of the most important zoonotic diseases in urban and peri-urban Kampala. Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly infectious disease primarily affecting small ruminants. It is a disease of high socioeconomic significance in low-income countries due to the high mortality and morbidity. Fifty-five farms in urban and peri-urban Kampala, Uganda, were visited during our study. A maximum of 5 blood samples were taken on each farm and farmers were interviewed regarding for example their animal’s health, animal movements and bio-security measures. One-hundred and ninety blood samples were taken in total and analyzed using competitive ELISA. The seroprevalence at herd level was 16.4 per cent for brucellosis and 1.8 per cent for PPRV, respectively. No statistically significant risk factors associated with seropositivity for PPRV were found in our study. Seropositive herd status for brucellosis was associated with having a farm in the division of Greater Kampala. Because of the fact that seropositive goats were found in our study it may be possible that transmission of brucella bacteria between goats and humans may occur in urban and peri-urban Kampala. Furthermore, seropositivity for PPRV may indicate that the virus has to some extent spread from the northern parts of Uganda to more central parts. In order to ascertain whether this is true or not I think further studies need to be carried out.