Knowledge, attitudes and practices of sheep owners regarding abortion in Northern Tunisia

Abortion in ewes causes high economic losses and represents a threat for human health due to abortive zoonotic pathogens.

The present study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) among sheep owners in the northern Tunisia regarding ewes' abortions.

Between February 2021 and May 2022, a structured questionnaire containing both close and open-ended questions was applied to 120 sheep owners in northern Tunisia. The data collected were analysed by chi-square test using Epi info 6 software.

The majority (75%) of participants reported a history of abortion in their sheep flocks. Sheep owners thought that the most frequent cause of abortion was physical factors, such as trauma, climate and stress (60% ± 5.5%; 48/80), followed by toxicity (15% ± 4%; 12/80), metabolic and nutritional conditions (12.5% ± 3.7%; 10/80), vaccination (5% ± 2.4%; 4/80) and infectious causes (7.5% ± 2.9%; 6/80) (p < 0.001). The majority of animal owners reported that abortions occurred mainly during autumn (39.6% ± 5%; 38/96), followed by summer (27% ± 4.5%; 26/96), winter (23% ± 4.3%; 22/96) and spring (10.4% ± 3.1%; 10/96) (p < 0.001). Approximately, half (45.8% ± 5%; 55/120) of interviewed farmers would not take any action if an abortion occurred. Half of the interviewed farmers (50.5% ± 5.1%; 48/95) did not apply any preventive measures when manipulating aborted ewes, and most of the sheep owners (77.3% ± 3.8%; 92/119) did not know that aborted ewes could transmit zoonotic pathogens.

Our survey concluded that sheep owners in Northern Tunisia had poor knowledge and attitudes as well as applied limited actions concerning several health aspects related to abortion. Education programmes should be established in order to improve Tunisian sheep owners' KAP regarding abortion.