Sero-Prevalence and Assessment of Presumed Risk Factors for Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus in and Around Sebeta Town, Ethiopia

Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is one of the main causes of severe pneumonia, interstitial edema and emphysema in cattle. A cross sectional study was conducted and 384 serum samples were collected from cattle of different age, sex and breeds including various risk factors for the assessment the disease in and around Sebeta town, Ethiopia, from December 2021 to June 2022. Presence of antibodies against BRSV was analyzed using a commercial indirect ELISA test. Accordingly, at farm level 33 herds were addressed for sampling and 31(93.9% 95% CI: 77.4%-98.6%) were positive with a minimum of one animal. Similarly, of the total 384 samples tested for individual animals 140(36.4% (95%CI: 31.8- 41.4%)) were showed positive. The association of various risk factors with response variable was also analyzed using logistic regression model. Indeed, the result revealed herd size, age and hygienic status were statistically significant (p<0.05). The likelihood of BRSV infection was relatively higher in large herd size (AOR= 3.79; 95% CI=1.35-11.47; p=0. 018) than small herd sizes. The odds of cattle's exposed for BRSV was also increase with age where 2-5 years (AOR=45.18; 95% CI=19.11-106.78; p<0.001) and above 5 year animals (AOR =55.17; 95% CI 18.76-162.22; p<0.001) were more prone to infection as compared to less than 2 years old calves. Similarly, animals under poor hygienic management were more likely affected with the disease as compared to good hygienic status (AOR=0.35; 95% CI: 0.15-0.84; P=0.0018). All other presumed risk factors (i.e. Sex, BCS, Origin, respiratory problems and access for visitors) for the disease were found statistically insignificant (p>0.05); although there is a remarkable variation between each categories under the variables. In general, the current result finding showed that a wide spread of the disease in the study area and likely in Ethiopia. The risk factors particularly those having significant association with the dependent variables will help to design effective control strategies. Further studies to isolate and characterize the circulating virus and studying its degree of pathogenesis in the study area was highly recommended which enables on the reduction of exposure to the infection through developing effective control and prevention strategies like vaccination.