Contagious caprine pleuro-pneumonia, knowledge, attitudes and control practices among pastoralists in the Rift Valley region, Kenya.

Abstract

This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes and use of the current F38 vaccine in pastoral production areas in the Rift Valley region in a cross-sectional survey conducted between the months of March, 2014 and March, 2015. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the pastoralists. Responses were obtained from 54 pastoralists whose flocks were also sampled for confirmation of CCPP sero-prevalence. The pastoralists were knowledgeable of CCPP based on the ability to recognize the disease from the clinical signs and post-mortem lesions observed. The characteristic lung lesions commonly associated with the disease was mentioned by majority (88.9%) of the Pokot and Maasai pastoralists and more than half (50.7%) of the Turkana pastoralists. Serology results estimated the seroprevalence for Turkana West at 63.9% (CI = 56.0 -71.8), Kajiado Central at 48.6% (CI = 40.7- 56.5) and Pokot East at 29.2% (CI= 21.3-37.0). The differences in sero-prevalence were statistically significant in the study areas (χ2 = 34.997; P = 0.000). Only 11.2% of the pastoralists had used the vaccine for controlling CCPP the in their flocks with a majority of them relying on antibiotics to treat CCPP cases. The results confirmed that CCPP is wide spread in the region and that there was generally low uptake of the available vaccine. Thus, there is need for awareness creation among the pastoralists on the use of vaccines for effective control of CCPP in Kenya.