Seroepidemiology of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis infection in unvaccinated cattle

The present study aimed to investigate the seroepidemiology of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) infection in the non-vaccinated cattle population in northern part of Tamil Nadu, India.

A total of 255 sera samples were collected from cattle having the history of respiratory and reproductive disorder from cattle of different age, breeds, and sex. All the sera samples were subjected to indirect ELISA for the diagnosis of IBR antibodies.

Results revealed that the seroprevalence of IBR infection among non-vaccinated cattle population was of 65.88%. No significant difference was noticed in the prevalence of IBR infection between cattle showing respiratory (63.64%) and reproductive form (70.89%) (p≥0.05). A higher prevalence was noticed in animals above 3 years of age (59.60%) and in crossbred animals (71.26%) than young and non-descript animals. This study showed the higher prevalence of IBR infection in female (67.92%) than in male (33.33%).

Cattle population in this part can better be protected with vaccination than leaving them unvaccinated and sero-monitoring shall have to be stressed with regular attempts to isolate and characterize the causative agent for IBR.