Serological Evidence of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Among Domestic Pigs in Busia County, Kenya

Luvanga, Julius and Bisimwa, Patrick and Ongus, Juliette (2025) Serological Evidence of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Among Domestic Pigs in Busia County, Kenya. World's Veterinary Journal. 940 - 951. ISSN 2322-4568

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Abstract

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a significant swine pathogen and one of the most damaging viruses affecting the global pig industry. Although clinical signs compatible with PRRS have been observed within Kenyan pig production systems, the virus has not yet been officially reported in the country. The present study sought to estimate the seroprevalence of PRRSV, describe farm characteristics, and identify risk factors associated with PRRSV infection among domestic pigs in Busia County, Kenya. Serum samples were collected from 398 pigs (52 piglets, 109 growers, and 237 adults) originating from 56 pig keeping farms/households and analyzed using a commercial indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Farm characteristics, pig farming practices, pig husbandry, and biosecurity data were recorded via structured questionnaires. Pig-level seroprevalence was 1.3 (5/398), with positives detected in Matayos 0.8 (1/124), Nambale 2.0 (1/51), Teso South 2.8 (2/72), and Bunyala 2.9 (1/35) sub-counties, respectively. The farm-level seroprevalence was 8.9 (5/56). Seropositivity did not differ significantly by location, sex, or age category. Biosecurity uptake was generally low, with the use of dedicated clothing/aprons (14), wearing of boots (32), presence of footbaths (12.5), quarantine of new pigs (11), and handwashing after pig handling (16). Not using separate clothing/aprons was the only risk factor significantly associated with farm seropositivity. The present findings provided evidence of PRRSV exposure in Kenyan pigs and reveal important gaps in farm-level biosecurity practices at the human-pig interface, underscoring the epidemiological relevance of these observations for pig industry in the region, although the small number of seropositive farms means that some degree of false positivity or false negativity may not be excluded. © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the article�s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article�s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Biosecurity; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus; Seroprevalence
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SF Animal culture
Divisions:	World's Veterinary Journal (WVJ)
Page Range:	940 - 951
Journal or Publication Title:	World's Veterinary Journal
Journal Index:	Scopus
Volume:	15
Number:	4
Publisher:	Scienceline Publication
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.54203/scil.2025.wvj95
ISSN:	2322-4568
Depositing User:	Dr. Alireza Sadeghi
URI:	https://eprints.science-line.com/id/eprint/1671

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