Sero-Prevalence of Avian Influenza, Newcastle and Gumboro Disease in Chickens in Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

A survey was carried out in chickens from backyard farms, rural flocks and live bird markets in six local government areas of Kogi state to study the epidemiology of three viral diseases of high economic importance in Nigeria. A total of 750 sera were collected and screened for evidence of antibodies to Avian Influenza, Newcastle and Gumboro disease viruses. An overall prevalence of 22.4% and specific prevalence of 26.0% were obtained for avian influenza in the live bird market chickens using the agar gel immunodiffusion test. Antibodies to Newcastle disease using haemagglutination inhibition test gave an overall prevalence of 25.6% with a mean titre of 1.39±0.088 and a unit specific prevalence of 36.7% (2.07±0.233) for rural chickens with 74.5% of the chickens surveyed having antibody titre <4 log2. Overall seroprevalence for Gumboro using agar gel immunodiffusion test was 16.3% with highest unit specific seroprevalence of 21.3% among chickens from live bird market. The study reveals that Avian Influenza, Newcastle and Gumboro disease viruses are circulating among chickens in Kogi state and the negative impacts of these diseases may explain the low level of commercial poultry production in the state.