Factors Influencing the Transborder Transmission of Brucellosis in Cattle Between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali: Evidence From Literature and Current Key Stakeholders

Wilfried Délé Oyetola; Kanny Diallo; Katharina Kreppel; Philippe Soumahoro Kone; Esther Schelling; Bassirou Bonfoh; Rianatou Bada Alambedji

doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.630580

Factors Influencing the Transborder Transmission of Brucellosis in Cattle Between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali: Evidence From Literature and Current Key Stakeholders

Front Vet Sci. 2021 Mar 10:8:630580. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2021.630580. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Wilfried Délé Oyetola¹, Kanny Diallo², Katharina Kreppel³, Philippe Soumahoro Kone⁴, Esther Schelling⁵, Bassirou Bonfoh², Rianatou Bada Alambedji¹

Affiliations

¹ Ecole Inter-Etats des Sciences et Médecine Vétérinaires, Dakar, Senegal.
² Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
³ Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania.
⁴ Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
⁵ Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Suisse, Bern, Switzerland.

Abstract

Brucellosis is one of the main zoonoses affecting ruminants. Cattle and small ruminants are involved in transhumance and trade between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali. The endemic nature of the disease in both countries, connected through transhumance, poses unique challenges and requires more information to facilitate disease surveillance and the development of integrated control strategies. This study aimed to assess the main factors influencing the historical and current transborder transmission of brucellosis between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali. A literature review was conducted and data collection was performed through a participatory, transdisciplinary process by holding focus group discussions and interviews with key stakeholders. Cattle breeders, herdsmen, professionals of animal and human health, border control agents and experts took part. The data was analyzed to generate essential new knowledge for transborder brucellosis transmission factors and control strategies. From the literature, the seroprevalence of brucellosis in both countries varied from 11% (1987) to 20% (2013) and 15% (1972-1973) to 5% (2012-2014) in Mali and Côte d'Ivoire, respectively. The reduction of seroprevalence in Côte d'Ivoire was the result of the annual vaccination campaigns which lowered it from 28% (1978) to 14% (1984) after an increase due to livestock policy implemented in 1976. The meta-analysis and interviews jointly showed that the cross-border mobility was associated with the livestock development policy in Côte d'Ivoire as well as the ECOWAS act on the free movement of people and goods. This act supported the seasonal transhumance of livestock for access to pasture land in southern humid zones in Côte d'Ivoire. The seasonal mobility for grazing and trade was the main risk factor for the spread of brucellosis between pastoral zones of both countries. The existing legal health framework and border control mechanism do not achieve transborder surveillance to control brucellosis. Existing sanitary regulations should be adapted at regional scale to integrate a joint surveillance of high priority zoonotic diseases like brucellosis at border controls.

Keywords: Côte d'Ivoire; Mali; brucellosis; livestock mobility; transborder surveillance.