ISVEE/335

Prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in slaughterhouses in Province,

Bahonar AR (1), Nafariyeh N (1), Rokni NR (1), Meshkat M (2)

(1) Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, , Iran (2) Iranian Veterinary Organization, Tehran, Iran

Objectives:

Bovine tuberculosis is endemic in Iran and there is national program for control of disease in industrial dairy farms but no specific activity in other farms or wildlife. The aim of this study is to describing the magnitude and distribution of gross lesions compatible with bovine tuberculosis in slaughterhouses in 17 abattoirs located in 9 city of Tehran province.

Methods:

We carried out a cross sectional study from 22 Aug. to 20 Nov.2008 (4 month) using detailed meat inspection procedure. A total of 112448 cattle were included in the study.

Results:

From the carcasses inspected, 93 (0.083%) had lesions suggestive of tuberculosis, 70 %( 10% generalized and 60% localized) chronic and 30% was acute form of disease. TB prevalence showed a marked variation between categories of age, breed, abattoir, geographic origin. Generalized form was higher in old than young animals. Most of cases (75.3%) were male and the highest prevalence of TB was recorded in Firuzkuh, Shahriar and . Cattle maintained in industrial farms had lower prevalence of TB.

Discussion and conclusion:

Among zoonoses, tuberculosis is especially important because of the large numbers of human patients and of animals susceptible to this disease. Our study demonstrated a prevalence of TB in slaughterhouses near to the rate of disease in national program by test & slaughter. This could infer to similar scenario in a reference cattle population in the country because most of cattle brought to Tehran from other . So expanding the program and abattoir surveillance of TB can be useful in elimination of TB in Iran.