Assessing adoptability of diagnostic technique and modifiable risk factors for clinical peste des petits ruminants

Abstract

Application of hospital register data in veterinary medicine, in particular in Bangladesh, is very rare. In this case – control study, S. A. Quaderi Teaching Veterinary Hospital (SAQTVH) of Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU) register data were used to describe the clinical features and epidemiology of peste des petits ruminant virus (PPRV) infection. Initially, the clinical diagnostic protocol was validated and followed for the diagnosis of the PPR patients at the SAQTVH, CVASU by antigen detection technique. The Cohen’s kappa statistics was applied to check the agreement between two diagnostic protocols. A very good agreement was found between the techniques (Cohen’s kappa=0.801, CI [0.635 – 0.966]). To identify the risk indicators, binomial probability test were used where a test proportion of 0.50 and a significant level of p<0.05 was used. A good disparity was observed between sex (males are more susceptible than females), age groups ([<1year or ≥2years], p= 0.005), flock size ([Small or Large], p<0.05), grazing pattern ([Free or Confined], p= 0.006), breed ([Black Bengal and its cross or Jamnapari], p=0.042) and history of new introduction ([Yes or no], p=0.005). The epidemic curve explored three epidemic peaks between August and September. One of the peaks corresponds to the ‘Manasha Puja’, goat sacrificing festival of the Hindu religion. Temporal autocorrelation confirmed the annual cyclic nature of the epidemic of PPRV in Chattogram region of Bangladesh. This present study is an example of the use of Veterinary Hospital register data for the descriptive clinical and epidemiological studies for the understanding the
frequency and pattern of the infectious diseases.