Study of the Prevalence of Bovine Brucellosis in the Forest Zone of Cote d’Ivoire

A serological survey was carried out in the suburban forest zone of Abidjan from July to September 2004 to estimate the prevalence of brucellosis in dairy cattle. Three hundred and eighty one (381) serums were collected from a total of 927 animals, of which 506 originated from the dairy farms supervised by the South Dairy Project (demonstration farm and private farms), and 421 from neighboring traditional herds. Four serological tests were performed: the rose bengal test, indirect ELISA, the complement fixation test, and the slow agglutination test of Wright with EDTA (micromethod). On the basis of serological and bayesian analyses, seroprevalence rates of about 3.6 and 4.3% were found in the dairy farms and traditional herds, respectively. No significant difference was found between the farms and traditional herds (p < 0.05).