Séroprévalence de la brucellose bovine et caprine dans l’ouest algérien

Abstract

Brucellosis is a zoonosis characterized by abortion and decreased fertility in many animal species. In Algeria, despite the control program adopted by the state since 1970, and reinforced in 1995, brucellosis continues to spread in farms causing heavy economic losses and numerous human cases. The objective of this work was to assess the effectiveness of this control program in western Algeria by determining the screening rate and the seroprevalence of bovine and caprine brucellosis. Two epidemiological studies were carried out in this work, a cross-sectional study and a retrospective longitudinal study. In total, 2466 cattle and 74 goats were collected for the cross-sectional study. The Rose Bengal test and the indirect ELISA were used for the detection of anti-brucella antibodies. For the retrospective study, we collected data on herd number and evolution of brucellosis in cattle and goats in western Algeria during the years 2019-2020. The results of our cross-sectional study demonstrated a very high seroprevalence in goats compared to cattle with rates of 1.01% and 86.48% in cattle and goats, respectively. Our retrospective study reported very low screening rates in the two animal species and in almost all the provinces studied. High seroprevalences were reported in western Algeria for both animal species. The endemic nature of brucellosis across western Algeria has been demonstrated by the study of its evolution over time (2019-2020). The apparent seroprevalence of bovine and caprine brucellosis varied from year to year and also from one province to another. The results of this study confirmed the persistence of bovine and caprine brucellosis in western Algeria, which represents a major risk for human and animal health. Therefore, strict prophylactic measures and an adequate control program must be adopted in order to eradicate this disease in animals and protect the human population against this zoonosis.