Abstract:
A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2021 to November 2021 with the objectives to
estimate the prevalence bovine babesiosis and identify the associated potential risk factors and
tick species involved in the transmission of this disease in Galka-Ayo district, Somalia. A random
sampling technique was employed for selecting the sampling units and the logistic regression
analysis was used to determine the association of hypothesized risk factors with positivity for
bovine babesiosis. A total of 348 blood samples were collected and examined for the presence of
bovine babesiosis by Giemsa staining technique. An overall prevalence of 11.2% (43/384)
babesiosis was estimated. Except for age and sex, body condition, village and tick infestation
showed statistically significant associations (P<0.05) with the occurrence of the disease. The
highest prevalence of bovine babesiosis was recorded in Roox (16.94%) and lowest in Agaran
(2.7%) villages. However, there was a statistically significant variation in positivity of bovine
babesiosis between different localities (P=012). According to multivariate logistic regression
analysis, the odd of bovine babesiosis occurrence in poor and condition animals were 2.83 and
2.76 times more likely than good body condition animals, respectively. This difference was found
to be statistically significant (P=0.026). A higher prevalence of babesiosis was found in tick infested (13.91%) than in non-infested cattle (5.08%) and this difference was statistically
significant (P=0.015). The mean ± Standard deviation packed cell volume (PCV) was 23.56 ±
4.465 for the overall study animals, 20.56 ± 3.896 for the infected and 24.47 ± 4.429 for the non infected cattle. There was statistically significant difference in mean PCV value between infected
and non-infected cattle (P=0.02). In conclusion, implementing surveillance systems, raising the
awareness of cattle owners on tick-borne diseases, further future studies using more refined
serological and genetic techniques, maintaining enzootic stability, enhancing premunity by
improving cares given to calves is essential.
