Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2016 to October 2017 to determine the seroprevalence and to investigate the risk factors for African horse sickness AHS in Sudan A total of 920equines 590 horses and 330 donkeys were randomly selected and sampled Competitive Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay c-ELISA was employed to detect antibodies to AHS virus The overall seroprevalence was 72 2 while it was 80 in horses and 58 2 in donkeys The univariate analysis of associations of potential risk factors with seroprevalence of AHS showed statistically significant p 0 05 results with state 2 47 434 p 0 001 species 2 50 163 p 0 001 sex 2 26 206 p 0 001 housing 2 26 477 p 0 001 vaccination 2 44 466 p 0 001 breed 2 57 256 p 0 001 water bodies 2 26 271 p 0 001 Cullicoides 2 42 658 p 0 001 ticks 2 23 608 p 0 001 activity of animal 2 41 435 p 0 001 awareness of owner 2 25 639 p 0 001 age 2 20 186 p 0 001 health score 2 12 038 p 0 001 pregnancy 2 3 249 p 0 0355 and infection with other disease 2 14 637 p 0 001 However the risk factors of presence of other animals and pervious infection with AHS did not show statistically significant p 0 05 associations Furthermore in the multivariate analysis onlystate OR 4 909 p 0 017 breed OR 2 532 p 0 004 species OR 3 776 p 0 017 water bodies OR 2 172 p 0 033 and vaccination OR 17 298 p 0 001 were found to be statistically significantly p 0 05 associated with seroprevalence of AHS