Porcine fmd sero-prevalence in kenya and its potential effect

Abstract

The role of pigs in the epidemiology of foot - and - mouth disease in Kenya has not been thoroughly investigated. I n order to understand this , a cross sectional study was conducted on serum samples from 15 counties in Kenya in order to determine the sero prevalence of foot - and - mouth disease in porcine species. The study utilized serum samples at FMD laboratory including SERECU project collected i n the year 2010 . The porcine serum samples were subjected to AniGen® FMD NSP Ab screening ELISA test. The ELISA kit was designed to detect FMDV specific antibodies in serum. From the serology results, the mean sero prevalence of foot and mouth disease in po rcines was 54.4% (n=98) on NSP screening while 45.6% (n=82) turned out to be negative. The FMD seroprevalence in porcines was higher compared to similar study done in bovines 52.5%, although the difference between the two was not statistically significant at 95% confidence interval . None of the sampled pigs were vaccinated and therefore the seropositivity was due to the wild virus circulation.