Prevalence of infectious Bursal disease (Gumboro) Antibodies in village Chickens in Gombe State, Northeastern Nigeria

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2013 to March 2014 to determine the prevalence of Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) in 5 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Gombe State, Northeastern Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling technique was employed in the selection of 3 districts within each of these LGAs and 10 households within each selected district with moderate number of village chicken growers within the age range of 12-16 weeks old were selected. A total of 1500 cloacal samples comprising 651 males and 849 females were collected and tested for IBD antibodies using Rapid IBD Antigen Detection Test Kits (RADTK). Of this, 953 (63.5%; 95% CI: 61.06-65.94) were positive for the disease. A high prevalence of 84.4% (95% CI: 81.8-87.0) was obtained during the rainy season as compared with 40.3% (95% CI: 36.8- 43.8) in the dry season (p<0.05). Males had a slightly higher prevalence of 59.9% (95% CI: 56.1-63.7) as compared with the female birds 52.2% (95%CI: 48.8-55.6) (p>0.05). Based on the LGAs, the prevalence ranges from 69.3% (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 0.10-2.80) in Gombe to 61.0% in Funakaye LGA (p>0.05). Urban region had high prevalence of 37.6% (OR = 2.6; 95% CI: 1.79-3.41) as compared with 26.3% in the rural areas (p<0.001). It was concluded that IBD is endemic in Gombe State particularly within the urban city. Therefore, appropriate control and preventive measures were highlighted to mitigate the resultant economic losses to the backyard poultry farmers and halt further escalation of the disease