Prevalence of clinical bovine dermatophilosis in dairy cattle in selected district towns of West Shewa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted from June, 2013 to October, 2014 to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of clinical bovine dermatophilosis in dairy cattle in selected districttowns of West Shewa Zone. A total of 816 dairy cattle from 60 dairy farms were clinically examined for skin lesion followed by microscopic examination of skin scrapings. The overall individual animal and herd level prevalence of clinical dermatophilosis were 5.0% and 18.3%, respectively. Agro-ecology, management system,ecto-parasite infestations were risk factors significantly associated with its occurrence. Consequently, the prevalence was significantly higher in cattle in mid land altitude than cattle in highlands; in cattle under semi-intensive than in intensive management system and in ecto-parasite infested than non-infested ones. However, other studied variables such as herd size, age, sex and breed did not show significant associations (p<0.05) with the disease. These findings indicate the interactions of the risk factors for the occurrence of clinical dermatophilosis in the study area. Consequently, clinical dermatophilosis might have adverse effects on production and productivity of dairy cattle. Therefore, good husbandary practices such as control of ecto-parasite and proper therapeutic intervention are of paramount importance for control of clinical bovine dermatophilosis and to reduce lossess associated to the disease.Keywords: Clinical dermatophilosis; Dairy cattle; Prevalence; Risk factor