India is a rich niche of ovine germplasm with diverse indigenous and cross breeds. Brucellosis is most contagious, often regionally neglected disease of small ruminants in the country. The current spatial prevalence of brucellosis in small ruminants of the country was not known. A total of 8904 samples [sheep (n1)-4868, goat (n2)-4036] from different states of the country were randomly collected and tested by indigenously developed iELISA kit. True prevalence of disease was found to be 5.5% (95% CI: 4.6-6.3%) and 2.3% (95% CI: 1.5-3.1), in sheep and goat, respectively. The study conclusively unraveled the epidemiological overview of disease at both state and national level. This information is useful for prioritizing regions for vaccination, designing control strategies and improvisation of clinical surveillance system.
sheep, goat, brucellosis, iELISA, India, spatial analysis, random sampling
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