Abstract:
Little work has been done on diseases of horses in Ethiopia or tropical regions of the world. Yet, Ethiopia
has the largest horse population in Africa and their horses play a pivotal role in their economy as traction
animals. A serological and questionnaire survey was therefore conducted to determine the circulating
serovars of Leptospira and their association with potential risk factors in the cart horse population of
Central and Southern Ethiopia. A total of 184 out of 418 cart horses from 13 districts had antibody titres
of 1:100 or greater to at least one of 16 serovars of Leptospira species in Central and Southern Ethiopian
horses. A significantly higher seropositivity (62.1%) was noted in horses from the highland agroecology
followed bymidland (44.4%) and lowland (39.8%). Serovar Bratislava (34.5%) was the predominant serovar
followed by serovars Djasiman (9.8%), Topaz (5.98%) and Pomona (5.3%). Age and location proved to be
associated with seropositive horses with older horses being more commonly affected and the districts of
Ziway (Batu)(Apparent Prevalence (AP) = 65.5%), Shashemene (AP = 48.3%) and Sebeta (AP = 41.4%) having
the highest prevalence. Multivariable logistic regression found risk factors significantly associated with
Leptospira seropositive horses were drinking river water (OR = 2.8) and horses 7–12 years old (OR = 5) and
risk factors specifically associated with serovar Bratislava seropositive horses were drinking river water
(OR = 2.5), horses ≥13 years (OR = 3.5) and the presence of dogs in adjacent neighbouring properties
(OR = 0.3). Dogs had a protective effect against seropositivity to serovars Bratislava and Djasiman, which
may be due to their ability to control rodents. The high seroprevalence confirm that leptospirosis is
endemic amonghorses ofCentral andSouthernEthiopia. Thepredominance of serovarBratislava supports
the idea that serovar Bratislava may be adapted to and maintained by the horse population of Central
and Southern Ethiopia. This study emphasizes the need for further countrywide serological surveys and
isolation of circulating leptospires in animals and humans in order to understand the role of horses in
the epidemiology of this disease.
