<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Tick-borne Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses (SFGR) is a serious disease reported in low income communities of many developed countries. The dearth of information on the existence of SFGR in most developing countries particularly in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) including Nigeria, has been attributed to many factors chiefly amongst which are; poor knowledge of the disease, limitation of diagnostic capacity, leading to misdiagnosis and under reporting of some infectious zoonotic diseases such as SFGR. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pastoralists (livestock farmers) and animal health workers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions/practices towards ticks and tick-borne SFGR affecting livestock in 3 Local Government Areas (LGA): i.e., in Plateau State, Nigeria and including Jos the Capital City of the State. A total of 141 semi-structured questionnaires were administered to respondents including 90 pastoralists and 51 health workers from different veterinary clinics. Interestingly, the pastoralists expressed no knowledge about SFGR, although 61.36 % reported a history of tick infestation. Among the animal health workers, about 76.47 % expressed some knowledge about the disease, but lacked knowledge of the diagnosis of the disease. The findings indicate that there was the need for an increase awareness on SFGR and its predisposing factors among relevant stakeholders in the Plateau State, Nigeria.</p>
</abstract>

Tick-borne Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses (SFGR) is a serious disease reported in low income communities of many developed countries. The dearth of information on the existence of SFGR in most developing countries particularly in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) including Nigeria, has been attributed to many factors chiefly amongst which are; poor knowledge of the disease, limitation of diagnostic capacity, leading to misdiagnosis and under reporting of some infectious zoonotic diseases such as SFGR. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pastoralists (livestock farmers) and animal health workers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions/practices towards ticks and tick-borne SFGR affecting livestock in 3 Local Government Areas (LGA): i.e., in Plateau State, Nigeria and including Jos the Capital City of the State. A total of 141 semi-structured questionnaires were administered to respondents including 90 pastoralists and 51 health workers from different veterinary clinics. Interestingly, the pastoralists expressed no knowledge about SFGR, although 61.36 % reported a history of tick infestation. Among the animal health workers, about 76.47 % expressed some knowledge about the disease, but lacked knowledge of the diagnosis of the disease. The findings indicate that there was the need for an increase awareness on SFGR and its predisposing factors among relevant stakeholders in the Plateau State, Nigeria.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices among Pastoralists and Animal Health Workers on Tick-Borne Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis in Plateau State, Nigeria

Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences

Folia Veterinaria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Tick-borne Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses (SFGR) is a serious disease reported in low income communities of many developed countries. The dearth of...

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices among Pastoralists and Animal Health Workers on Tick-Borne Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis in Plateau State, Nigeria

Publié en ligne: 19 juin 2023

Pages: 78 - 88

Reçu: 23 mars 2023

Accepté: 29 mai 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fv-2023-0019

Mots clés
animal health workers, Nigeria, pastoralists, plateau, SFGR, tick-borne

© 2023 Henry E. Nnabuife et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices among Pastoralists and Animal Health Workers on Tick-Borne Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis in Plateau State, Nigeria

Publié en ligne: 19 juin 2023

Pages: 78 - 88

Reçu: 23 mars 2023

Accepté: 29 mai 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fv-2023-0019

Mots clésanimal health workers, Nigeria, pastoralists, plateau, SFGR, tick-borne

© 2023 Henry E. Nnabuife et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
animal health workers, Nigeria, pastoralists, plateau, SFGR, tick-borne