Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34476956›Full record

ArticleJournal of the South African Veterinary Association2021

Documenting the absence of bovine brucellosis in dairy cattle herds in the southern region of Malawi and the associated knowledge, attitudes and practices of farmers.

John P Kothowa, Ruth L Mfune, Jacques Godfroid, Bernard M Hang'Ombe, Martin Simuunza, John B Muma

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the South African Veterinary Association, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 32% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

John P KothowaDepartment of Disease Control, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia; and, Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Malawi Government, Lilongwe. kothowajohn@yahoo.com.
Ruth L Mfune
Jacques Godfroid
Bernard M Hang'Ombe
Martin Simuunza
John B Muma
University of Zambia · ZMCentre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia · ZMCopperbelt University · ZMMalawi Government · MWUiT The Arctic University of Norway · NO

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There is paucity of Brucella prevalence data in Malawi. For this reason, a cross-sectional study was conducted, from 06 January 2020 to 27 February 2020, to estimate the seroprevalence of brucellosis in dairy cattle herds amongst smallholder farmers, government and private dairy farms in the southern region. A total of 529 serum samples were screened for anti-Brucella antibodies using the Rose Bengal test (RBT) and a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). A pre-tested electronic (Epicollect tool, Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom) questionnaire was administered to 378 smallholder farmers to assess their knowledge, attitudes and practices towards brucellosis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data in Microsoft Excel® and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS®) version 21. No animal tested positive for presence of anti-Brucella antibodies, indicating 0% prevalence (individual and herd levels). The majority (94.2%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 91.8-96.5) of smallholder farmers had never heard about brucellosis. Furthermore, assisting during parturition without protective equipment (41.3%; 95% CI: 36.3-46.2) and using bulls for breeding (75%; 95% CI: 70.2-78.9) were amongst the common risk practices that were identified. We could not detect brucellosis in this study that indicates the disease could be very rare or even absent in the dairy cattle herds of the southern region of Malawi. However, further Brucella studies need to be conducted in cattle, small livestock, wildlife and humans to document the true status of brucellosis in the country. Brucellosis surveillance, monitoring, awareness and preventive measures are required to maintain this favourable situation.

Indexed as

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeAnimal HusbandryAnimalsAntibodies, BacterialBrucellaBrucellosis, BovineCattleCross-Sectional StudiesDairyingFarmersFemaleHumansMalawiRisk FactorsSeroepidemiologic StudiesSurveys and QuestionnairesAntibodies, Bacterialattitudes and practicesbovine brucellosis (contagious abortion)dairy cattle herdsknowledgeMalawiseroprevalence

Identifiers

PMID34476956
PMCPMC8424705
OpenAlexW3193196481

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.