Participatory disease surveillance (PDS) of sheep and goats deseases in selected districts of Afar Regional State: Particular focus on Pestes des petit ruminants (PPR) and sheep and goat pox disease (SGP)

Abstract

Participatory disease surveillance uses a participatory technique for the collection of qualitative epidemiological information within the community observations and existing veterinary knowledge. Participatory disease surveillance wasconductedto assess and prioritize the majordiseases of sheep and goat in selected districts of Afar Regional statefrom July to September 2012 andspecifically to understand the status of PPR and SGP diseases. Three Kebeles from each district were selected out of four districts based on representativeness and a total number of twelve  Kebeles were selected. Elite informantswereselected purposivelyto collect in-depth informationand 1O to 12 community informants were included in each PDS process.A total of 500 sera samples were also tested for antibody against PPR virus using competitive Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent (C-ELISA). The informants ranked the livestock species based on the economic value fortheir livelihoodas goats, camel, cattle, sheep, donkey and chickenfrom the top priority to the least in descending order.Among listed diseases, respiratory syndrome/CCPP, SGP and tick and tick-borne diseases for goats and respiratory syndrome, diarrhea syndrome, tick infestation and SGP diseases for sheepwere the most priority disease problems top ranked by proportional piling. PPR outbreak was reported in Chifra district and the informants ranked among the top priority disease in goats. High sero-prevalence of antibody against PPR 78% (95%CI: 74.4-81.6) was detected in the study population which might be from natural infectionor PPR vaccination carried out in all districts. The sero-prevalence in goats was higher than in sheep 84.1 % and 70. 7%, respectively. In conclusion, the priority disease problems identified should be given due attention and further epidemiological studies are required to generate information used for the future control endeavor.

Keywords: Afar,Goat, Participatory disease surveillance, Sheep, PPR, Sheep and goat pox disease.