Surveillance of the spread of avian influenza virus type A in live bird markets in Tripoli, Libya, and determination of the associated risk factors

Vet World Vol.15 July-2022 Article-11

Research Article

Veterinary World, 15(7): 1684-1690

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2022.1684-1690

Abdulwahab Kammon^1,2, Mosbah Doghman¹, and Ibrahim Eldaghayes³

1. Department of Poultry and Fish Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya.
2. National Research Center for Tropical and Transboundary Diseases, Alzintan, Libya.
3. Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya.

Background and Aim: Studies on avian influenza virus (AIV) in Libya are few and limited. This study aimed to determine the presence of AIV in live bird markets (LBMs) in Tripoli and determine the risk factors associated with AIV spread.

Materials and Methods: In total, 269 cloacal swabs were randomly collected from different bird species in 9 LBMs located in Tripoli and its surrounding regions. The target species were ducks, geese, local chickens, Australian chickens, Brahma chickens, turkeys, pigeons, quails, peacock broiler chicks, and pet birds. Total RNA was extracted from the swab samples and used for real-time polymerase chain reaction to detect AIV type A.

Results: Of the 269 samples, 28 (10.41% of total samples) were positive for AIV type A. The LBMs with positive samples were Souq Aljumaa, Souq Alkhamees, Souq Althulatha, and Souq Tajoura. The highest percentage (35.71%) of AIV was recorded in Souq Aljumaa. Positive results for AIV type A were obtained primarily in three species of birds: Ducks (14/65; highest percentage: 21.5%), local chickens (12/98; 12.24%), and geese (2/28; 7.14%). Furthermore, the following three risk factors associated with the spread of AIV type A were identified: Time spent by breeders/vendors at the market (odds ratio [OR] = 11.181; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.827–32.669), methods used for disposing dead birds (OR = 2.356; 95% CI = 1.005–5.521), and last visited LBM (OR = 0.740; 95% CI = 0.580–0.944). Restricting the movement of poultry vendors from one market to another may protect against AIV spread.

Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate the high risk of AIV spread in LBMs and highlight the need for continuous surveillance of LBMs across the country. Keywords: avian influenza, live birds market, risk factors, Tripoli.

Keywords: avian influenza, live birds market, risk factors, Tripoli.

How to cite this article: Kammon A, Doghman M, Eldaghayes I (2022) Surveillance of the spread of avian influenza virus type A in live bird markets in Tripoli, Libya, and determination of the associated risk factors, Veterinary World, 15(7): 1684-1690.

Received: 16-02-2022 Accepted: 18-05-2022 Published online: 16-07-2022

Corresponding author: Ibrahim Eldaghayes E-mail: ibrahim.eldaghayes@vetmed.edu.ly

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.1684-1690

Copyright: Kammon, 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.