A Twelve-year Retrospective Study on the Prevalence of Contagious Bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia in Jos: A Case of Disease Under-reporting

Abstract

Contagious bovine pleuro-pneumonia (CBPP) is an infectious and highly contagious transboundary animal disease of cattle and buffaloes caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies mycoides (Mmm) small colony type. The disease causes enormous economic losses in endemic countries due to reduced animal productivity. A twelve-year retrospective study was conducted to determine the prevalence of CBPP in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Data was obtained from the monthly meat inspection records at the Jos Main Abattoir only. During this period 77,763 cattle were slaughtered and examined at post-mortem, out of which 229 had lesions suggestive of CBPP giving an overall prevalence of 0.29%. The highest prevalence was recorded in the year 2020 with 103 (1.25%) cases while year 2019 recorded the lowest with 5 (0.05%) out of 8,221 and 10,613 slaughtered cattle, respectively. Across the years, the month with the highest prevalence was April
2012 (2.93%) while the lowest were recorded in August 2019 (0.1%) and October 2022 (0.1%). The drier months of the year recorded the highest prevalence, with 37 (0.61%) cases occurring in April, which was closely followed by November with 33 (0.45%) cases out of 6,061 and 7,289 slaughtered cattle, respectively, while the lowest cases occurred during the peak of the rainy season. Years 2013-2018 had no record of CBPP cases in the abattoir. Jos, the Plateau State capital, has several unregistered slaughter slabs that have no slaughter or disease records. This study has shown setbacks in the animal diseases record system of the state.