Serological survey and associated risk factors' analysis of Trypanosomiasis in camels from Southern Tunisia.

Surra ( infection) is one of the main causes of dromedary () abortion, besides generating severe economic losses in herds. A sero-epidemiological survey was carried out between December 2018 and December 2019 in Southern Tunisia to estimate the seroprevalence of infection in camels and to determine its possible associated risk factors. Two-stage sampling was conducted to select breeders and camels targeted in our study. A total of 1205 blood samples were collected from 277 randomly selected farms belonging to six governorates of southern Tunisia. Sera were tested with the card agglutination test for (CATT/) to detect the presence of anti- antibodies. The overall individual and herd seroprevalence were 30.8% (95%CI 27.9-33.1%), 64.9% (95%CI 61.7-73), respectively. The seroprevalence of infection both at the animal (26.2% (95%CI 21.4-30.9%) and herd level (84.4 (95%CI 76.3-92.5)) was higher in Kebili than in other governorates ( = 0.003). At the animal level, the infection rate with was significantly associated to the age group among camels ( = 0.0008), production system ( = 0.006), bioclimatic stage ( = 0.02), and herd size ( = 0.04) in the univariable analysis. Multivariable logistic regression indicated that only age group and herd size were potential risk factors associated with infection. However, no significant variation of the seroprevalence of with the sex of camels, farm type, and previous trypanocidal treatment were detected ( > 0.05). The findings of this study are crucial for this disease surveillance and control. Further investigations on the efficacy of the treatment against surra are needed to explain the persistence of the disease in the south of Tunisia.