Vet World Vol.13 May-2020 Article-26
Research Article
Veterinary World, 13(5): 1005-1009
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2020.1005-1009
Seroprevalence of African horse sickness in selected donkey populations in Namibia
2. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale" 64100 Teramo, Italy.
3. Department of Virology, Central Veterinary Laboratory, 24 Goethe Street, Windhoek, Namibia.
Background and Aim: African horse sickness (AHS) is a non-contagious viral disease of horses and other equids caused by an arbovirus belonging to the Reoviridae family and genus Orbivirus. AHS is an endemic disease that is responsible for the death of a high number of horses every year in Namibia. At present, there is no information on the prevalence and distribution of AHS virus (AHSV) serotypes in the different regions of Namibia. Therefore, this survey aimed to fill this knowledge gap by investigating the AHSV seroprevalence in Namibian donkeys.
Materials and Methods: A total of 260 blood samples (20 samples for each region) were randomly collected from donkeys aged between 3 and 5 years. Sera were screened for AHSV-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies using a commercial competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit and samples positive to AHSV antibodies were further tested by serum neutralization (SN) assay to evaluate the AHSV serotype-specific immune response.
Results: Seroprevalence of antibodies against AHSV in Namibian donkeys was 63.5%. The AHSV prevalence was significantly higher in the northern region (64%) than in the southern region (36%). A significantly (p<0.05) higher number of donkeys had antibodies against AHSV-6 (37.8%) and AHSV-9 (37.8%). The AHSV-2, AHSV-6, and AHSV-9 prevalence were higher (p<0.05) in the northern regions compared to the southern regions. None of the donkeys in this study, however, tested positive for AHSV-8.
Conclusion: Results of the current study indicate that all AHSV serotypes have either circulated previously or are circulating in Namibia except for AHSV-8. In particular, AHSV-1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, and -9 serotypes have circulated or are circulating in the northern region of Namibia, while AHSV-1, -4, -5, -6, -7, and -9 have infected donkeys in the south. AHSV-9 and AHSV-6 were the most prevalent serotypes detected in donkeys in this study. SN results showed that several donkeys from Kavango East, Kavango West, and Ohangwena regions had been exposed to multiple serotypes, indicating the possibility of cocirculation of several strains in Namibia. Keywords: African horse sickness, donkeys, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Namibia.
Keywords: African horse sickness, donkeys, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Namibia.
How to cite this article: Molini U, Zaccaria G, Kandiwa E, Mushonga B, Khaiseb S, Ntahonshikira C, Chiwome B, Baines I, Madzingira O, Savini G, D'Alterio N (2020) Seroprevalence of African horse sickness in selected donkey populations in Namibia, Veterinary World, 13(5): 1005-1009.
Received: 30-11-2019 Accepted: 20-04-2020 Published online: 31-05-2020
Corresponding author: Wichaporn Lerdweeraphon E-mail: u.molini76@gmail.com
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.1005-1009
Copyright: Molini, 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.