Seroepidemiology of sheep pox in Tamil Nadu

A total of 600 representative sera samples collected from sixty unvaccinated sheep flocks which were selected through multistage random sampling technique and all the sera samples were subjected to indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The overall seroprevalence of sheep pox was 31.50%. Significantly higher (P<0.01) seropositivity was observed in Dharmapuri (41.00%) followed by Namakkal (29.00%) and Salem (24.50%) districts of this zone. Seroprevalence of sheep pox was significantly (P<0.01) higher in animals maintained in transhumant pastoral system (36.83%) than those without migration (20.00%). Tiruchy Black sheep (45.61 %) showed significantly higher (P<0.01) seropositivity than Mecheri sheep (28.19%). Seroprevalence of sheep pox in animals less than six months, six months to one year and above one year was 36.14%, 40.00% and 28.39% respectively. Sex had non-significant effect on seroprevalence of sheep pox.