Seroprevalence of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infection in goats of Khuzestan province

Paratuberculosis or Johne's disease is chronic infectious granulomatous enteritis of ruminants, which has a worldwide occurrence. It is caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis and the most common symptoms of disease in goats are cachexia, anorexia and severe disability. The aim of this study was to survey seroprevalence of Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis in goats of Khuzestan province and its correlation with host and environmental determinants. In this study sera samples were collected randomly from 368 goats in Ahvaz, Hendijan, Izeh, Shushtar, Dezful and Susangerd cities and were tested by ELISA. Apparent and real seroprevalence of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis were 7.07% (95% CI: 4.47-9.67 percent) and 13.8% (95% CI: 10.3-17.3 percent), respectively. This study showed that infection increased with age and odds of infection between the age, based on year and disease is 1.08 (95% CI: 0.86-1.35) (p>0.05). Relative frequency of positive samples in females was more than males and the odds of infection in female goats was 1.19 (95% CI: 0.4-3.59) times the males (p>0.05). The odds of infection in goats with history of diarrhea was 4.38 (95% CI: 1.92-9.96) times more than goats without this history (p0.05). This study confirms that Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis exists in goats of Khuzestan province and preventive and control measures should be considered by health authorities. Conflict of interest: None declared