Prevalence of Bovine Tuberculosis in Rural Areas of District Tando

Abstract The present study was conducted to record the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in rural areas of district Tando Allahyar. A total of 187 animals were selected from different localities of district. The animals were divided into different categories according to breed and age, on the basis of breed animals were divided in Kundhi, Red Sindhi, cross breed and Non-descript breeds. Where as, on the basis of age the animals were divided into 5 groups i.e. 0-3 years, 3-6 years, 6-9 years, 9-12 years and 12-14 years. A 0.1 ml of 2,000 I.U. / animal (1 mg protein/ml) bovine PPD tuberculin was injected into the dermis of the site. Thickness at the injection was measured after 72 hours from tuberculin injection. 10 animals (Kundhi 5, Red Sindhi 1, Cross Breed 1 and Non-Descript 3) were found to react to bovine PPD tuberculin, while 14 were found to be doubtful. The over all prevalence of 5.34% was recorded in this current study, The breed wise prevalence was 2.68%, 0.53%, 0.53% and 1.6% in Kundhi, Red Sindhi, cross breed and Non-Descript breeds respectively. Higher prevalence was recorded in animals of 9-12 years (2.14%) and 3-6 years (1.6%), followed by 0.53%, 0.53% and 0.53% in animals of 0-3 years, 6-9 years and 12-14 years respectively. From present study it was concluded that, bovine tuberculosis being zoonotic in nature, can pose potential threats to human health if proper measures are not taken to eradicate or reduce the occurrence of disease in animals.