First Insight into the Current Prevalence of Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle Slaughtered in Cameroon: the Case of Main Abattoirs of Yaoundé and Douala

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the current prevalence of bovine tuberculosis at Yaoundé and Douala abattoirs.
Study Design: Many investigations confirmed that bovine tuberculosis is prevalent in cattle destined for consumption in Cameroon but the magnitude and the distribution of animal tuberculosis in the country are unknown.
Place and Duration of Study: Sampling was made during routine meat inspection, in the Yaoundé and Douala abattoirs located in the Central and Littoral regions of Cameroon respectively. Sampling was successively carried out from November 2010 to April 2011. Sample processing (culture, acid-fast staining and spoligotyping) was made at Mycobacteriology Reference Laboratory in Centre Pasteur of Cameroon.
Methods: About 16,316 slaughtered cattle, were successively inspected for tuberculosis during this study. Among them 9,127 and 7,189 were slaughtered in Yaoundé and Douala abattoirs respectively. Evidence of pathology was supported by postmortem examination of carcasses using visual examination and palpation of lungs, livers, hearts, internal bodies and lymph nodes. The prevalence was calculated as the number of cattle with suspected TB lesions divided by the number of cattle examined at post mortem within the specified period. Ziehl-Neelsen staining, culture on solid medium and spoligotyping were made to identify acid-fast Bacilli and Mycobacterium bovis.
Results: The overall apparent prevalence of bovine tuberculosis based on suggestive macroscopic lesions induced by tuberculosis was 1.03%. This prevalence was split to 0.81% and 1.3% in Yaoundé and Douala abattoirs respectively. Mycobacterium bovis accounted for 47.62% of the tuberculous lesions and its prevalence was 0.49%.
Conclusion: This result show that bovine tuberculosis is still prevalent in cattle destined for human consumption in Cameroon and highlighted the contribution of M. bovis as the leading cause of bovine tuberculosis in Cameroon.