The temporal and spatial distribution of infectious diseases in bovines in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

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1 ISSN: X Annals of Life Sciences Vol-1,(1) (2017) 1 8 Annals of Life Sciences Journal Home: Research Article The temporal and spatial distribution of infectious diseases in bovines in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Amjad khan *1, Muhammad Hassan Mushtaq 2, Mansur ud din Ahmad 3, Zahida Fatima 4, Shahid Hussain Farooqi 5 and Asghar Khan 6 1. Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, 5400, Pakistan. 2. Department of Epidemiology and public health, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. 3. Department of Epidemiology and public health, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. 4. Animal husbandry Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad Pakistan. 5. Department of Clinical medicine and surgery, ARID University Rawalpindi, Pakistan 6. Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, UVAS, Lahore, Pakistan. Abstract In spite of the significance of dairy animals to poor rural farmers relatively is the neglected area of research. Considering this an active surveillance based study was conducted to analyze the impact of climate change on the epidemiology of diseases in dairy animals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, Pakistan. Ecologically and geography based three distinct clusters. Data from 1251(49.8%) cattle and 1260 (50.2%) buffaloes was collected on a pre designed questionnaire about the infectious diseases from July 2012 to June The results revealed a significant (p < 0.05) association of change in environmental temperature and season with the morbidity, mortality and case fatality rate of the diseases and major health problems. As mean temperature at lower altitudes (below 500m) increases above 30 0 C the rate of incidence of FMD, HS and HBU also increases. While at higher altitudes with low mean temperatures the rate of disease incidence was much lower than the plane hot arid areas. The results also showed that the susceptibility of buffaloes and cattle to heat stress varied significantly (P<0.05) according to specie, breeds, genetic potential and life stage. The study also revealed that average rainfall at different altitudes had significant impact on infectious diseases morbidity and mortality. It was concluded that climate change do have an impact on occurrence, pattern and severity of infectious diseases at different altitudes. Key words: Climate change, Epidemiological parameters, genetic potential, heat stress. Introduction Livestock is very important to the economies of all developed and developing nations and countries. Animals provide with food, such as protein for humans, employments, and income on national and foreign level. For poor population or rural dwellers livestock serve as a wealth store, it also provides Corresponding author: dramjadkhan77@gmail.com draught power and with organic fertilizers for their better crop production and it s a mean of transport also in many areas (FAO, 2007). Animal diseases lay significant menace to the livestock sector throughout the world, both from the point of economic impacts from the diseases themselves as well as the measures taken to extenuate the risk of that disease Page 1

2 introduction and spread (Perry et al., 2003). The Scientific Committee (SCAHAW, 2001) reported that the higher maximal temperature for the beef cattle is about 30 C. Temperatures ranging from 15 to 29 C do not have an influence on the growth performance. But temperatures above 30 C do have adverse effects as recorded in weight gain on daily basis. It also previously reported in Italy that heat stress may be responsible for increase in the mortality and economic losses in livestock (Vitali et al., 2009). While another research works reporting that a fall can occur in summer season of almost 20 to 27% in the conception rates of animals (Chebel et al., 2004; Lucy, 2002). Climate factor such as heat stress condition stands for the most significant limiting factor for the dairy cows farming being responsible for many problems (Nienaber et al., 2007). Although in future the climate changes will be very much spatially uneven, some climate projections model suggests that the precipitation will increases at the higher latitudes, and will decreases in tropical and the sub tropical regions of the world (IPCC, 2007). The climate change effects on the health of animals haven t been studied that much in depth. Nevertheless, it can be hypothesized that as in case of human beings, the climate change, as particularly the global warming, is likely to affect greatly the health of farm animals may be directly i.e. temperature related illness, mortality, and the morbidity of animals during the extreme weather events. While indirectly the impacts are the influence of climate change on the microbial populations, distribution such as in the case of vector borne diseases and food-borne diseases. This research work was preformed to find out the impact of climate change under different geographical conditions on magnitude, occurrence and severity of diseases and other health problems in major dairy animals in KPK, Pakistan and also it provided with epidemiological data base for further research. Materials and Methods Active disease surveillance based study was conducted in rural areas of KPK (Fig-1). Where eight randomly selected villages each from a different district were selected in the form of two ecologically and geographically different set of clusters on the basis of variations in its ecological parameters i.e. temperature, humidity and altitude. Sampling and Data Collection Target population was all the heads of buffaloes and cattle (all ages and sexes) in the rural villages of KPK. While the study population was the whole population of buffaloes and cattle of the eight randomly selected villages. Where an active surveillance based study was accomplished to pile up all the relevant information on a predesigned questionnaire comprising several surveys from July (2012) June (2013) about the descriptive epidemiological parameters i.e. about morbidity and mortality from various infectious diseases from the farmers through interviews using local languages. The information having on the prescribed Performa were gathered by the researcher under the supervision of the major supervisor and co supervisor in the study area. The questionnaire had the comprehensive questions suggesting the epidemiological information i.e. demographic information of the farmers, animal species, morbidities and mortalities from various infectious diseases and major health problems. Case definition of each disease was obtained through questioning. Where possible the likely English definition of each disease was also determined through consultation with local veterinary staff. The data about the climate of study area for the past one year period was obtained from the Meteorological Department, government of Pakistan (PMDP). Statistical analysis Descriptive analysis of the data was carried out by using SPSS software (version 20.0). Data was presented with the help of frequency tables and bar charts. Chi-square test was used to check the association between the categorical variables. Results The present study was conducted in KPK. Where the climate changes immensely varies from region to region. Here the temperatures in summer season usually remains quite hot and in the southern area e.g. in district Mardan where the temperatures reaching 45 C (113 F) is not rare, while in Peshawar it reaches to 40 C (104 F). The total animals surveyed in the study area were Out of which buffaloes were 1260 (50.2%) and cattle were 1251 (49.8%). Amongst the total animals being observed 1389 were Page 2

3 from semi arid, 616 from sub humid and 507 from humid region respectively. The districts consisted in each climatic region is shown (Fig-1). The results showed overall incidence of (8.80%) for Hemorrhagic Septicemia (HS). While it was found significantly (P<0.000) higher in buffaloes (11.34%) than cattle (6.23%) population. The impact of age was found having no impact on incidence of HS in both cattle and buffaloes (Table-1). Variations were been found between the climatic regions, where the incidence of HS was found significantly (P<0.000) higher in the humid region (Table-1). The seasonal variations were also present among the incidence rate of HS, though it was strongly found correlated with late summer season. Out of total, 47.96% of HS cases were recorded in the late summer season (Table-1). The climate change also showed impact on incidence of foot and mouth disease (FMD), both in cattle and buffalo population. Analysis of the study elicits the higher FMD incidence rate in buffaloes (13.57%) than in cattle (6.0%). Age did not found imposing any significant impact on the incidence of FMD in both cattle and buffalo population (Table-2). The higher FMD incidence was found in the sub humid region (Table-2). Seasonal variation was also found for FMD incidence where it was recorded significantly (P<0.000) higher in late summer season (Fig-2). The overall incidence rate of haemoglobinura (HBU) non specific of cause was found (4.2%) for all the animals observed for the whole year. The incidence rate of HBU was found quite similar in both species. Also the age did not have any significant (P<0.549) impact on incidence of HBU. High percent of HBU case were recorded from humid region (Table-3). Seasonally difference in HBU was also found where the most of the cases were recorded in summer season (Fig-2). Discussions In rural areas of KPK dairy animals are one of the main sources of income for poor dwellers lacking enough land for crop agriculture. In this part of the country the climate varies a lot for the size of the region. Most of the smallholder dairy farmers keep cattle and buffaloes as in a mixed farming system. Many of the different kinds of cattle and buffaloes breeds could be found here reared mostly for milk purpose. The present study was conducted aimed to address the impact of change in several climatic factors at different geographic locations on incidence of major livestock infectious diseases. The present research work is the first real attempt of its nature in KPK, Pakistan. The results of the present study revealed 8.80% of overall incidence rates of HS different from the findings of Asadullah et al. (2006) reporting 30% in adult buffalo population. The difference may be attributed to the fact that lot of variation exists in the climate and geography of the study areas. Also in the present study incidence rate was found different at different ecological conditions. Specie variance for incidence of HS may also exist as recorded in the present study (table-1). The climate change effect is evident from the results of the present study effecting both the species (P<0.05). Two factors counting for the difference one the non adoptive nature of the different exotic breeds as compared to the local ones. Seasonal variation in the incidence of HS was observed (Table-1), where significantly higher incidence rate was recorded during the hotter season of the year. This phenomena was also identified recently by Hajikolaei et al ( 2008) in his study reporting that hotter and highly humid climates are the main contributing factors in outbreaks of HS such as higher environmental temperatures (37 C) also favors the growth of bacteria causing HS. It is also evident from our study that in late summer season most of the monsoon showers come in this part of the country, where HS outbreak is always expected after monsoon showers. The overall incidence rate of FMD was recorded 9.83%, where it was significantly (P<0.05) higher in buffaloes than in cattle population (Table-2). The higher susceptibility of buffalo population may be due to several factors i.e. transportation stress, climate change stress, confined managerial practices in rural areas of KPK as compared to Punjab from where they are most of the time transported from. Incidence of FMD was found significantly affected by climate change in different geographic areas varying altitudes. Seasonal variations were found significant having a positive impact on the incidence of FMD. Most of FMD cases were recorded in the late summer season. It might be due to the religious festival occurring in this season at time where lot of free movements of animals takes place all over the Page 3

4 country. Out results does not matches with those of Rubina et al. (2006) who conducted a study in Punjab reporting higher incidence of FMD. The difference may be the climatic conditions of Punjab than in KPK suiting the propagation of causative agent at higher rate in Punjab. But the results of present study are in correlation with the results reported by Gorsi et al. (2011). The HBU crude incidence rate recorded in both cattle and buffaloes was 4.2% irrespective of the cause. An insignificant impact of specie and age was observed on the incidence rate of HBU. While HBU incidence was significantly affected by season (Fig- 1). The results of our study are in contrary to the previous reports of Durrani et al (2009) reporting higher occurrence of HBU in Punjab. The difference may be attributed to the fact of temporal variations between the two different ecological regions. While the higher incidence of HBU in summer season may be due to the higher tick infestation rate at that time References 1- Asadullah, K., Umar, S., Riaz A., Hamayun K., Younas M. and Mohammad Z, Sero-surveillance of hemorrhagic septicemia in cattle and buffaloes in district malakand, nwfp, J. Agri and Bio. Sci., VOL. 1: ISSN Chebel, R.C., Santos, J.E.P., Reynolds, J.P., Cerri, R.A., Juchem, S.O., Overton, M, Factor affecting conception rate after artificial insemination and pregnancy loss in lactating dairy cows. Anim. Rep. Sci., 84, Durrani. & Kamal, N, Prevalence of genital tract problems in clinical cases of various species of animals. J. Anim. Plant. Sci., Pages, FAO, 2007, Animal health policy and practice: scaling-up community-based animal health systems, lessons from human health, PPLPI working, 122: ii Gorsi, M.I., Abubakar, M. and Arshed, M.J, Epidemiology and Economic Aspects of Foot and Mouth Disease in District Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan. J. Anim. Plant. Sci., Hajikolaei, M.R.H., Ghorbanpour, M., Seyfi-abadshapouri, M.R., Rasooli, A., Moazeni-Jula, G.R and Ebrahimkhani, D, 2008, Study on the prevalence of as discussed by khan et al (2013) in this part of country. Conclusion Based on the results of this study it was concluded that climate do have an impact on the severity and magnitude of Infectious diseases of livestock. Scientific research in future could help in this sector in battle against the climate change. The endeavors in selection of animals that up to date were oriented towards production traits; onward it must be focused towards robustness. Acknowledgements Authors of this work are highly thankful to the farmers of the study area for providing all the support in terms of their precious time and relevant epidemiological data during interviews. Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Pasteurella multocida carriers in slaughtered cattle and relationship with their immunity status at Ahvaz abattoir. J. Vet. Res., 63: IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: AR4), 2007, The Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change 4th Assessment Report, Jackson Institute, University College, London. 8- Khan, A., Mushtaq, M. H., Ahmad, M., Tipu, Y., Khan, A and Munibullah, Tick Infestation Rate in Cattle and Buffalo in Different Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. J. Vet. Anim. Sci., Vol. 3 No. (1-2): Lucy. M.C., Reproductive loss in high producing dairy cattle: where will it end. J. Dairy Sci., 84: Nienaber. J.A and Hahn. G.L, Livestock production system management responses to thermal challenges. Int, J, Biometeorol., 52: Perry. B.D., McDermott. J Randolph. T,2003, Can epidemiology and economics make a meaningful contribution to national animal-disease control. Prev.vet. Med., 48: Rubina. A., manzoor. H., Aamer. B.Z., Hamid. I and Umer. F, Epidemiological Analyses of Foot and Mouth Disease in Pakistan. Int. j. agr. Bio., Page 4

5 13- SCAHAW., 2001, The welfare of cattle kept for beef production Sanco.C.2/AH/ R22/ eu.int/comm/food/fs/aw/aw/_scahawen.html. 14- Vitali. A., Segnalini. M., Bertocchi. L., Bernabucci. U., Nardone. A. and Lacetera. N, Seasonal pattern of mortality and relationships between mortality and temperature-humidity index in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci., 92: Page 5

6 Fig-1: Showing the different Climatic regions and districts sampled in the study area in KPK, Pakistan. Page 6

7 Fig-2: Representing seasonal variation of livestock infectious disease in KPK Table-1: Description and incidence of HS in cattle and buffaloes in KPK, Description Variables Level HS incidence (%) P-value Host specie Cattle/Buffaloes Cattle 6.23(78/1251) Buffaloes 11.34(143/1260) Climatic Climatic region Semi-Arid 7.99(111/1389) Sub-Humid 6.10(38/615) Humid Region 14.20(72/507) Age* Young/Adult Young 9.9(110/1107) Adult 7.90(111/1404) Season Winter (Dec-March) 1.80(4/221) Summer (Apr-June) 14.47(32/221) Monsoon (July-Sep) 47.96(106/221) Post Monsoon (Oct-Mid Dec) 35.74(79/221) *Non significant impact Page 7

8 Table-2: Description and incidence of FMD in cattle and buffaloes in KPK, Description Variables Level FMD incidence (%) P-value Host specie Cattle/Buffaloes Cattle 6.02(76/1251) Buffaloes 13.57(171/1260) Climatic Climatic region Semi-Arid 6.71(94/1389) Sub-Humid 15.60(96/615) Humid Region 11.24(57/507) Age* Young/Adult Young 10.02(111/1107) Adult 9.67(136/1404) Season Winter (Dec-March) 5.66(14/247) Summer (Apr-June) 31.17(77/247) Monsoon (July-Sep) 40.08(99/247) Post Monsoon (Oct-Mid Dec) 23.30(57/247) *Non significant impact Table-3: Description and incidence of HBU in cattle and buffaloes in KPK, Description Variables Level HBU incidence (%) P-value Host specie* Cattle/Buffaloes Cattle 4.7(59/1251) Buffaloes 3.7(47/1260) Climatic Climatic region Semi-Arid 4.10(57/1389) Sub-Humid 2.5(16/615) Humid Region 6.5(33/507) Age* Young/Adult Young 4.5(50/1107) Adult 3.9(56/1404) Season Winter (Dec-March) 20.75(22/106) Summer (Apr-June) 50.94(54/106) Monsoon (July-Sep) 18.86(20/106) Post Monsoon (Oct-Mid Dec) 8.40(9/106) *Non significant impact Page 8