Serological Survey of Porcine Brucella Infection in SouthEast, Nigeria

Abstract

Porcine brucellosis, also called contagious abortion of swine is an infectious and zoonotic disease of swine caused by bacteria of the genus Brucella (Young, 1995). Brucella suis is the species found primarily in pigs. It is a zoonotic infection of domesticated and wild animals which humans (especially occupationally exposed workers), acquire by ingestion of improperly cooked contaminated pork, direct contact with infected animals or inhalation of infected aerosols (Radostits, 1995). Brucella infection in pigs is of wide spread occurrence, but the prevalence is low in most countries with the exception of South America and Southeast-Asia where the prevalence is high (Starnes et al., 1999). Pig production is drastically affected by Brucella infection through abortion, birth of weak/unthrifty piglets, infertility and orchitis in the boar and these constitute serious economic losses (Ogundipe et al., 2001). Productivity of pigs in most countries is generally low due to high piglet mortality, slow growth rate, lack of adequate feed stuffs, ectoparasitism, trypanosomosis, helminthosis, lack of government' incentives, poor housing, lack of veterinary services and poor feed conversion ratio (Rekwot, 2003). This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of Brucella infection in swine in southeast Nigeria.