Bluetongue disease in small ruminants in south western Ethiopia: cross-sectional sero-epidemiological study.

422 serum samples were screened for the presence of bluetongue virus (BTV) specific antibodies using competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) and 30.6% (129/422) (confidence interval CI 26.2-35%) of the sheep and goat serum samples were found positive. Multivariate analysis of several risk factors like age, sex, altitude, body condition and species of animals were studied and it was observed that species of animals, age and altitude had significant influence (P < 0.05) on seropositivity to BTV. Goats showed more seropositivity to bluetongue as compared to sheep [AOR = 2.4, 95% CI (1.5-3.9), P = 0.001], adult animals were more seropositive [AOR = 3.1, 95% CI (1.9-5.1), P = 0.001] than other age groups and animals at the lowland [AOR = 3.1, 95% CI (1.5-6.4), P = 0.002] showed more seropositivity to bluetongue than midland and high land. Sex and body condition of the animals had no statistically significant (P > 0.05) effect on seropositivity to bluetongue.