PREVALENCE OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS AND KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF WORKERS IN TWO ABUJA ABATTOIRS, FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, NIGERIA

PREVALENCE OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS AND KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF WORKERS IN TWO ABUJA ABATTOIRS, FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, NIGERIA

CHAPTER 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infectious and contagious Zoonotic disease of domestic, wild animals and humans. Human and bovine tuberculosis (BTB) are two forms of tuberculosis that cause significant disease in mammals . It is characterized by the formation of granulomas (tubercles) in tissues and organs more significantly in lungs, lymph nodes, intestine, liver and kidneys . Though primarily a bovine problem but infect animals causing tuberculosis in camels, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, dogs, cats, badgers, lions, elephants, deers, primates and man .The disease is zoonotic and therefore of public health significance . Human tuberculosis is mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis but in regions where bovine tuberculosis is prevalent in animals, human tuberculosis cases due to Mycobacterium bovis may occur. Zoonotic bovine tuberculosis is present in most developing countries where surveillance and control activities are often inadequate or unavailable. The disease is widespread and affecting livestock and human health in Africa . It is among the fastest killer disease in Nigeria today  and developing countries as a whole . In Africa, the occurrence of tuberculosis due to
Mycobacterium bovis in human is difficult to determine accurately because of technical problems in isolating the microorganism. Currently bovine tuberculosis in human is becoming increasingly important in developing countries like Nigeria as human and animals are sharing the same micro-environment and dwelling premises especially in rural areas . Historically,tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis in human was associated with consumption of unpasteurized milk and this is still the most important route of exposure in developing countries. Rural inhabitants and some urban dwellers in Nigeria still consume unpasteurized and soured
milk potentially infected with Mycobacterium bovis . The human cases of tuberculosis associated with Mycobacterium bovis infection, both pulmonary and extra pulmonary has been documented in Nigeria. From the limited survey which has been reported over the last
30 years in the country, prevalence of bovine tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis ranges from 2.5% in 1970 to 14% in 2007. The disease has been on the increase as demonstrated by tuberculin test reports

PREVALENCE OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS AND KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF WORKERS IN TWO ABUJA ABATTOIRS, FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, NIGERIA