Risk factors assessment of bovine tuberculosis among abattoir personnel in Gombe State, Northeastern Nigeria: A One-Health approach

Research Article

International Journal of One Health, 5: 1-8

https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2019.1-8

S. Mohammed¹, Adamu Saleh Saidu^2,3, S. M. Jajere^2,4, P. Tomar³, A. M. Wakil⁵, J. Mohammed¹, and R. Preeti³

1. Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, PMB 1013, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
2. Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, PMB 1069, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
3. Department of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Sciences, Lala Lajpat Rai, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar - 125 004, Haryana, India.
4. Department of Pathobiology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
5. Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, PMB 1069, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Background and Aim: Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an important milk-borne zoonosis that affects cattle production and poses serious threat to public health. This study aimed at assessing the risk factors as well as the level of awareness, attitude, and practices of abattoir personnel toward bTB in Gombe Township Abattoir, Gombe State.

Materials and Methods: A prospective survey was conducted between October 2015 and December 2015. During the survey, a total of 112 close-ended structured questionnaires were administered to the abattoir personnel to assess their level of awareness of bTB.

Results: Of these respondents, the majority were males (79%), butchers (49%) and about 40% were under the productive age brackets of 26-35 years. Majority of the respondents (85.7%) were aware of the zoonotic nature of the disease. However, only a few of the respondents (44.6%) wear personal protective equipments (PPEs) clothes while handling or in contact with carcasses during the slaughtering process. Only a few among the respondents (24.1% and 31.2%) consumed unpasteurized milk and unaware of eating of improperly cooked meat as a risk factor of bTB, respectively. About 75.7% of the respondents believed that the habit of eating and drinking inside the abattoir and during slaughtering operations has no any significant effects on their health. The results obtained show a statistically significant association between respondents' awareness of bTB and their occupational status, duration of exposure to cattle carcasses, and knowledge about the disease (p<0.05); and the odds of being aware of bTB was 10.0, 5.07, and 4.2, respectively.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the need for public health authorities to intervene in bTB prevention and control through the creation of avenues for enlightenment on the zoonotic risk associated with bTB. The risk factors associated with bTB transmission as indicated by the personnel's practice and awareness levels in Gombe township abattoir are preventable through the use of PPEs clothing. Keywords: abattoir personnel, bovine tuberculosis, Gombe, one-health approach, risk factors.

Keywords: abattoir personnel, bovine tuberculosis, Gombe, one-health approach, risk factors.

How to cite this article: Mohammed S, Saidu AS, Jajere SM, Tomar P, Wakil AM, Mohammed J, Preeti R. Risk factors assessment of bovine tuberculosis among abattoir personnel in Gombe State, Northeastern Nigeria: A One-Health approach. Int J One Health 2019;5:1-8.

Received: 11-08-2018 Accepted: 04-12-2018 Published online: 09-01-2019

Corresponding author: Adamu Saleh Saidu E-mail: adamudvm13@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2019.1-8

Copyright: Mohammed, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.