Sero Survey of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Infection in Cattle Crossing Some Major Border States in Northwestern Nigeria

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) poses a major constraint to international trade in animals and animal products in sub-Saharan Africa. A retrospective and serological survey was conducted in two major Border States of Sokoto and Kebbi in north-western Nigeria. This study was aimed at determining the sero-prevalence of FMD virus (FMDV) antibodies in cattle at international animal control posts and to examine cattle population movement across the border area for a period of one year (January to December 2014) from the available records. Eight hundred and eighty (880) sera samples were collected and screened for the presence of antibodies to FMDV using the competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. The data were subjected to chi-square and relative risk to check for independence and association. An overall seropositive rate was found to be 55.2 % (486/880). A 79.9 % (359/450) sero-positive rate was obtained from the Kamba border, while 29.5 % (127/430) was found at the Illela border. Kamba showed a statistically significant (P < 0.05) higher sero-prevalence when compared with cattle that are crossing the Illela border (Relative Risk 2.70; 95 % Confidence Interval 2.317—3.149). Retrospective data from the control posts revealed that an average number of 2019 and 2747 of cattle, respectively, crossed the Kamba and Illela international borders monthly. The highest influx of animals from the Niger Republic through the Illela international border was encountered between the month of March and April 2014. The magnitude of the presence of FMDV Non-structural protein (NSP) antibodies in the study areas is an indication of the infection and the presence of the virus in the study areas and the neighbouring countries.