Leptospira seroprevalence and associated risk factors among cattle in Bor County South Sudan

Abstract

Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonotic disease that is distributed globally. There is limited data on the occurrence of the disease in South Sudan. This cross-sectional study investigated the seroprevalence of Leptospira species and associated risk factors among cattle in Bor County, Jonglei State of South Sudan from 17th Jan to 15th Feb 2023. Blood samples were collected from 357 cattle of small stakeholder farmers in four different cattle camps. Seropositivity was determined by the detection of Leptospira species antibodies in the sera samples using microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The data on cattle management systems and husbandry methods were obtained using in-depth interviews were conducted to 23 farmers. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between the risk factors and Leptospira seroprevalence in cattle. Results showed that 66.95% (95% CI 61.77- 71.76) of the examined serum samples were positive for Leptospira antibodies, with the highest titer value of 1:12800. The most prevalent serovar was L. interrogans serovar Tarassovi with 58.82% positivity, followed by serovar Kenya with 17.1%. Moreover, 69 cattle (19.33%) (95% CI 15.44%, 23.89%) cattle had a titer value ≥ 1:800 indicating a probable recent infection with Leptospira species at the time of sampling. The seropositivity per cattle camp was 78.18% (95% CI 64.64%, 87.75%) for Kudder, followed by Pabial 68.67%, Malualchat 64.65% and 62.5% (95% CI 53.16%, 71.03%) in Thoony. Multivariate analysis showed that age, breed, and education level of the farmers were the significant individual risk factors, while rearing goats with cattle was the significant herds-associated risk factor for Leptospira species, with occurrence of this disease. Results from this study indicated that cattle in Bor County, Jonglei State of South Sudan are exposed to Leptospira infection and since they are reservoir for the bacteria, they may act as source of infection to humans (herders).