Vet World Vol.17 May-2024 Article - 10
Research Article
Veterinary World, 17(5): 1012-1016
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.1012-1016
The first evidence of bovine viral diarrhea virus circulation in Libya
2. Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya.
3. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia Romagna (IZSLER), Brescia, Italy.
4. Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya.
Background and Aim: Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is endemic in North Africa and the Mediterranean Basin with high socioeconomic impacts. However, there are no data on this disease in Libya. One of the aims of this study was to provide data on BVD in Libya, to fill in the gap in the region and to investigate the level of seroprevalence of BVD virus (BVDV) in Libya and associated risk factors.
Materials and Methods: A total of 1599 serum samples were collected from cattle herds belonging to seven Libyan regions. All sera were assayed using a screening enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of antibodies against BVDV.
Results: The overall seroprevalence of BVDV was estimated to be 48.6% (95% confidence interval, 46.08%–50.98%). A seroprevalence rate of 36.8% was detected in cattle aged <1 year, 41.0% in cattle aged between 1 and 2 years, and 49.7% in cattle aged >2 years. Statistically significant differences (p = 0.001) were observed between age groups. BVDV seroprevalence was significantly associated with geographical region (p = 0.033).
Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on BVD in Libya, and the results suggest that BVD is endemic in Libya. Further studies are required to isolate and characterize the circulated BVDV in Libya.
Keywords: bovine viral diarrhea virus, Libya, risk factors, seroprevalence.
How to cite this article: Elkhoja H, Buishi I, Brocchi E, Grazioli S, Mahmoud A, Eldaghayes I, and Dayhum A (2024) First evidence of bovine viral diarrhea virus circulation in Libya, Veterinary World, 17(5): 1012–1016.
Received: 2024-01-31 Accepted: 2024-04-22 Published online: 2024-05-09
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1012-1016
Copyright: Elkhoja, 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.
