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Seroprevalence of Rift Valley fever virus infection in camels (dromedaries) in northern Tanzania

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Abstract

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an arthropod-borne viral zoonotic disease that affects a wide range of animals including sheep, goats, cattle, camels and humans. Camels have only recently been introduced into Tanzania and, as a result, there is no credible diseases status information concerning this population, estimated to be in the low hundreds. As part of a broader study on camel diseases in different localities of northern Tanzania, serum samples (n = 109) were collected from apparently healthy, non-vaccinated camels during the period June to August 2010 and tested for antibodies specific to RVF virus (RVFV) using the inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Overall, herd and individual camel IgG seroprevalence was 78.5 % (11/14) and 27.5 % (30/109), respectively. IgG was found to be most prevalent in camels from Kilindi and Hai districts (45 %, each) and in introduced camels from other areas (37.1 %). The relationship between age and seropositivity showed that the seroprevalence was the highest (84.6 %) in age group of ≥10 years and lowest (11.9 %) in age group of ≤5 years.

The results of this study reveal that evidence of camels being exposed to RVFV and that the risk of seropositivity varied according to district, being higher in Kilindi and Hai compared with other districts sampled. The risk of seropositivity increased with increasing animal age and the introduction of camels into the herd. Based on these study findings, continuous disease surveillance of camels for RVFV is indicated.

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Abbreviations

ELISA:

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

IgG:

Immuno globulin G

OD:

Optical density

PBS:

Phosphate-buffered saline

PI:

Percentage inhibition

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank camel owners for their invaluable collaboration during the collection of the data and samples. We thank the district veterinary authorities, Heifer Project International for providing the initial data on camels. We thank Dr. C. Daborn from TVS for critical review and language appraisal of late draft of this manuscript. The staff at VIC and FVM-SUA are thanked for their field and laboratory support. The director of veterinary services is also acknowledged for the permission to publish this paper. The study was co-funded by DVS-MoLDF, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and Wellcome Trust Grant WT087546MA to the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance, for which we are grateful.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors of this paper has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organization that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries, (MoLDF), Box 9152, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Emmanuel Senyael Swai

  2. Veterinary Investigation Centre (VIC), Box 1068, Arusha, Tanzania

    Emmanuel Senyael Swai

  3. Southern Africa Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS), Box 3297, Morogoro, Tanzania

    Calvin Sindato

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  1. Emmanuel Senyael Swai
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Senyael Swai.

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Swai, E.S., Sindato, C. Seroprevalence of Rift Valley fever virus infection in camels (dromedaries) in northern Tanzania. Trop Anim Health Prod 47, 347–352 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-014-0726-y

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