Sero-prevalence of fowl typhoid and Pullorum disease from apparently healthy chickens in eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

A study was conducted on 393 apparently healthy exotic and local chickens reared at different management systems in eastern Ethiopia in order to determine the sero-prevalence of Salmonella Gallinarum and Salmonella Pullorum. To achieve this objective, blood samples were collected and the expressed sera were used from the selected chickens for antibody detection. The samples were from Haramaya University (309 chickens) and Dire Dawa (84 chickens). Subsequently, serum slide agglutination test was employed. Based on this, the overall prevalence of Salmonella Gallinarum and Salmonella Pullorum was 125/393 (31.8%). The prevalence of each farm was 95 (30.7%) Haramaya University farm, 13 (32.5%) Dire Dawa University farm and 17 (38.6%) local breeds of Dire Dawa. Moreover, the study has recorded higher prevalence in back yard chickens as compared to chickens reared at intensive farms. However, associated risk factors have not been found statistically significant at (P value < 0.05). In conclusion, the present study revealed Salmonella Gallinarum and Salmonella Pullorum were prevalent in both production systems. Therefore, further epidemiological investigations on these pathogens and implementation of control measures are mandatory. © 2014 Tadele G, et al.