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African swine fever among slaughter pigs in Mubende district, Uganda

Tropical Animal Health and Production volume 44, pages 1593–1598 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Owing to frequent reports of suspected outbreaks and the presence of reservoir hosts and vectors (warthogs, bushpigs and O. moubata ticks), African swine fever (ASF) is believed to be an endemic disease in Uganda. There have, however, been very few studies carried out to confirm its existence in Uganda. This study was carried out to describe the prevalence of ASF based on pathologic lesions and analysis of serum samples from slaughtered pigs during a suspected outbreak in the Mubende district of Uganda. The study was based on visits to 22 slaughterhouses where individual pigs were randomly selected for a detailed ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections. Sera were also collected for laboratory analysis. A total of 997 pigs (53.7% male and 46.3% female) were examined for lesions suggestive of ASF and sero-positivity of sera for ASF antibodies. The sera were tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and positive samples were further confirmed with an immunoblot assay. The results showed that 3.8% (38/997) of the pigs examined had clinical signs and post-mortem lesions suggestive of ASF. Two of 997 (0.2%) sera analysed were positive for ASF antibodies. Of the sub-counties investigated, Bagezza (12%) and Kiyuni (11%) had the highest prevalence of lesions suggestive of ASF based on ante- and post-mortem examination results, while Mubende town council (1.7%) had the lowest. This study found a low number of pigs (3.8%) with lesions suggestive of ASF at slaughter and an even lower number of pigs (0.2%) that were seropositive at slaughter, however a significantly higher number of pigs were slaughtered during the outbreak as a strategy for farmers to avoid losses associated with mortality.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Norwegian government for the financial support through the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science. We also would like to thank Kenneth Okanga for the work in Uganda, Dr. Lunze George, Dr. Asimwe Alani, Dr. Mwanje Gerald, Mr. Willy Yawe and all the Mubende district and sub-county officials for making it easy for us to collect samples.

We also thank Miss Debbie Gibson for carrying out the ELISA testing at IAH-Pirbright.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Safety and Infection Biology, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, P.O. Box 8146 Dep., 0033, Oslo, Norway

    Adrian Muwonge, Demelash Biffa & Eystein Skjerve

  2. Department of Basic Sciences and Aquatic Medicine, Section of Aquatic Medicine and Nutrition, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, P.O. Box 8146 Dep., 0033, Oslo, Norway

    Hetron M. Munang’andu

  3. Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda

    Clovice Kankya

  4. Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright laboratory, Ash Road, Pirbright, Surrey, GU24 ONF, UK

    Chris Oura

  5. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics/Population Health, College of Public health, 132 Coverdell Centre, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602-7396, USA

    James Oloya

Authors
  1. Adrian Muwonge
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  2. Hetron M. Munang’andu
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  3. Clovice Kankya
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  4. Demelash Biffa
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  5. Chris Oura
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  6. Eystein Skjerve
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  7. James Oloya
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Correspondence to Adrian Muwonge.

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Muwonge, A., Munang’andu, H.M., Kankya, C. et al. African swine fever among slaughter pigs in Mubende district, Uganda. Trop Anim Health Prod 44, 1593–1598 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-012-0112-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-012-0112-6

Keywords

  • Sero-prevalence
  • African swine fever
  • Pigs
  • Uganda