Cross-Sectional Study on Contagious Caprine Pleuro Pneumonia in Selected Districts of Karamoja Region in Uganda

Contagious caprine pleuro-pneumonia (CCPP) is an important, devastating disease of goats and sheep, caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae ( Mccp). In Uganda the disease occurs mainly in the Karamoja region and the surrounding districts. It is a devastating disease of goats, caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (Mccp). The present cross sectional study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of antibodies against CCPP by Competitive ELISA in goats in Karamoja region, Uganda. A total of 320 sera samples were collected from goats with both vaccination and no vaccination history in four districts of Karamoja region, namely: Kotido, Kabong, Abim and Amudat. Among the unvaccinated goats on Competitive ELISA, the seroprevalence was found to be 33.18% (73/220) and 62% (62/100) among the vaccinated ones. Among the various age groups, higher sero-positivity of (73%) was seen in 1-2 years old goats. Comparing the percentage seroprevalence for the districts; it was highest for Kotido (57%), followed by Kabong (51.25%), Abim (38.75%) and lastly Amudat (32.5%). The results of the study indicate that CCPP is endemic in Karamoja region. Furthermore, even among the vaccinated goats, 38% did not have antibodies against Mccp, indicating that not all the vaccinated goats could be collected. It is therefore recommended that more elaborate and long term studies be undertaken to isolate more Mccp strains from the region for more in-depth epidemiological studies of the disease. It is also important to identify causes of the low sero-conversion among vaccinated goats and come up with corrective measures to improve the protection of goats against CCPP in this region.Keywords: CCPP, Karamoja region, Sero-prevalence, Vaccination, Mccp, Uganda, cELISA