Seroprevalence of infectious bursal disease in backyard chickens of North West Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was conducted in North Gondar and West Gojjam Administrative Zones from November 2009 to June 2010 to determine the seroprevalence of infectious bursal disease by using I-ELISA (Indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) test. A total of 400 chickens raised in the back yard production system, 200 from each study area, were randomly selected and examined for the presence of anti-IBD (anti- infectious bursal disease) antibody. Anti-IBD antibody was detected from 294 chickens and this gives an overall seroprevalence of 73.5% (294/400) for the entire study area, where the higher 75% (150/200) and the lower 72% (144/200) was recorded from samples collected in West Gojjam and North Gondar respectively. Even though, place of origin and sex was considered as potential risk factors, the study result shows that variation in place of origin and sex of chickens doesn’t have significant influence on the occurrence of IBD (Infectious bursal disease). Generally, the higher prevalence (73.5%) reported in this study indicates that the disease is widely distributed and one of the potential threat for poultry production in the study areas.