Seroprevalence, hematological and biochemical alterations in Brucella-seropositive Muturu cattle in Nigeria

This study evaluated the prevalence, hematological and some biochemical alterations in Brucella seropositive Muturu breed of cattle which may change the narratives of multi-disease tolerance of the breed. Sera from 33 Muturu cattle herds chosen by snow ball sampling were screened for Brucella antibodies with modified Rose Bengal test (RBT) supported with the cELISA. Eighteen (18) seropositive samples matched to18 sero-negatives, with regard to age and sex of the animals and chosen by simple random sampling, were analyzed for hematological and biochemical changes, following standard procedures. Individual seroprevalence of 38% and 10% were recorded with the RBT and cELISA respectively, while herd seroprevalence of 52% was recorded with the RBT and none with the cELISA. Seropositivity to brucellosis was significantly associated with farm origin (OR = 16.67; 95%CI = 1.56-153.85; p = 0.019). There was significantly lower packed cell volume (PCV) (p = 0.048) and absolute eosinophil count (p = 0.006), and significantly higher absolute lymphocyte count (p = 0.014) in the seropositive than the negative Muturu cattle. In addition, plasma fibrinogen (p < 0.001), serum albumin (p = 0.037), urea (p = 0.001) and cholesterol (p = 0.032) were significantly lower while serum globulin (p = 0.004), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity (p = 0.012) and bilirubin (p = 0.012) were significantly higher in the seropositive than sero-negative Muturu cattle. No significant variations were observed in the rest of the parameters assayed. These findings suggest that Muturu cattle are apparently susceptible to brucellosis and experience active organism-host interactions with resultant clinicopathological effects and therefore could be passive harbingers of Brucella for other animals as well as humans.