An Estimate of Global Anthrax Prevalence in Livestock: A Meta-analysis

Vet World Vol.14 May-2021 Article-26

Research Article

Veterinary World, 14(5): 1263-1271

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1263-1271

Bylaiah Sushma¹, Seema Shedole¹, Kuralayanapalya Puttahonnappa Suresh², Gowda Leena³, Sharanagouda S. Patil⁴, and Gowda Srikantha²

1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Matthikere, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
2. Spatial Epidemiology Laboratory, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) - National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), Yelahanka, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
3. Department of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, Veterinary College, Hebbal, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
4. Virology Laboratory, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) - National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), Yelahanka, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

Background and Aim: Anthrax, caused by the soil-borne spore-forming bacteria called Bacillus anthracis, is a zoonotic disease that persists worldwide in livestock and wildlife and infects humans. It is a great hazard to livestock; henceforth, evaluating the global concerns about the disease occurrence in livestock is essential. This study was conducted to estimate the global prevalence of anthrax and predict high-risk regions, which could be an input to veterinarians to take necessary steps to control and avoid the disease.

Materials and Methods: A literature review was performed using online databases, namely, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Biomed Central, and Science Direct, to extract relevant publications worldwide between 1992 and 2020. Initially, 174 articles were selected, and after scrutinizing, 24 articles reporting the prevalence of anthrax were found to be adequate for the final meta-analysis. The statistical study was accompanied by employing fixed effects and random effects models using R.

Results: The pooled prevalence of anthrax globally was 28% (95% confidence interval, 26-30%) from 2452 samples through the fixed effects model. Continent-wise subgroup analysis through the random effects model revealed that the pooled prevalence of anthrax was highest in Africa (29%) and least in North America (21%).

Conclusion: In these publications, anthrax causes economic loss to farmers and, thus, to the world. Hence, controlling anthrax infections in high-risk regions are essential by implementing appropriate control measures to decrease the effect of the disease, thereby reducing economic loss. Keywords: anthrax, livestock, meta-analysis, prevalence, subgroup analysis.

Keywords: anthrax, livestock, meta-analysis, prevalence, subgroup analysis.

How to cite this article: Sushma B, Shedole S, Suresh KP, Leena G, Patil SS, Srikantha G (2021) An Estimate of Global Anthrax Prevalence in Livestock: A Meta-analysis, Veterinary World, 14(5): 1263-1271.

Received: 11-12-2020 Accepted: 06-04-2021 Published online: 22-05-2021

Corresponding author: Bylaiah Sushma E-mail: sushma.b3@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.1263-1271

Copyright: Sushma, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.