The mean prevalence, abortion rate and estimating the economic costs of brucella abortus in dairy cows in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the economic cost of Brucella abortus in Turkey. According to present literatures, the mean prevalence of infection has been estimated as 6.21%. The positivity rate of B. abortus in aborted cows has been found to be 21.16%. The financial costs were estimated in US$ according to 2020 prices. The production cost of brucellosis was estimated in US$ as 1.464 per a cow. In this study, the percentage of production losses caused by brucellosis per cow were determined as 32.65% abortion, 10.77% prolonged calving interval, 9.7% milk loss, 29.88% replacement of culled cow and 17.01% costs for treatment, respectively. The annual production losses were estimated as US$208 million of the B. abortus for Turkey. The annual economic costs have been estimated as US$301 million for prevention and control of the B. abortus. In general studies that have been conducted so far on Brucellosis are focused on the prevalence and the diagnosis of the disease in Turkey. In this study, we attempted to determine the economic costs due to B. abortus and attempted to attract attention on the economic impacts of the disease. As a result, B. abortus in Turkey results in major economic costs to the livestock industry with significant impact on dairy cattle.