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Seroprevalence of Clostridium tetani in Donkeys in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Tetanus is an acute non-contagious and infectious disease caused by Clostridium tetani exotoxins that affect many animal species and humans. It is associated with high mortality rate, ranging from 58% to 80% in Equidae. This study investigated the seroprevalence of C. tetani antibodies in donkeys in Kaduna State. A total of 384 donkeys were sampled from the study area, 5 ml of blood was collected aseptically from the jugular vein and sera was harvested and tested for tetanus using ELISA kits. A seroprevalence of C. tetani of 295/384 (76.8%) was recorded. Male donkeys had a higher sero-prevalence (89.9%) than female (64.1%), young donkeys had 78.5% compared to 75.7% for adults; donkeys with wounds had a seroprevalence of 92.1% while those without wounds (42.4%). Donkeys from free range had a higher seroprevalence of 88.0%. Donkeys with BCS of 1 and 2 had 87.8% being the highest value, based on breeds, the Fari and Idabari had the higher seroprevalence (85.7% and 87.2% respectively), It was concluded that the donkeys in the Northern Kaduna had a high seroprevalence to C. tetani and also sex, age, breeds and presence of wounds were the main risk factors to C. tetani infection in donkeys and it was recommended that the use of donkeys in production of tetanus antitoxins and toxoid should be investigated.