Abstract:
Infectious bursal disease is recognized as a worldwide concern for the poultry industry,
resulting in a great economic loss in different type of poultry production system including
Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine seroprevalence of IBD and
assess associated risk factors in non-vaccinated, apparently healthy chickens in Jimma town
and Bonga district of south west Ethiopia: between October, 2015 to August, 2016. A
Multistage sampling technique was used to pick out chickens for serum sample collection. A
total of 422 chickens serum samples were examined using Indirect ELISA test, 407 (96.4%) of
them to be found positive. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was
carried out by SPSS version 20 to determine independent association between variables and
occurrence of the infectious bursal disease. Multivariate analysis revealed that the odd of
infecting with the disease in adult aged chickens was lower than young aged groups
(P=0.002, OR=0.07, CI=0.009-0.547), where as females are more likely affected than that of
male chickens (P=0.004, OR=3.6, CI=1.197-10.548)and the occurrence of the disease was
lower in Bonga district than in chickens reared in Jimma Town (P=0.016, OR= 0.3,
CI=1.190-9.83) in this investigation area. Finally, the result of this research shows Infectious
bursal disease is very prevalent and widely distributed in chickens reared in the study areas.
Therefore, creating awareness to poultry owners, and vaccination, especially at early age was
recommended to prevent and control the disease and to reduce further losses.
