Epidemiology of bovine schistosomiasis and associated risk factors in Ethiopia: A systematic review with meta-analysis of published articles, 2008–2018

PLOS ONE RESEARCH ARTICLE Epidemiology of bovine schistosomiasis and associated risk factors in Ethiopia: A systematic review with meta-analysis of published articles, 2008–2018 Melkie Dagnaw ID1*, Bihonegn Wodajnew2, Tsegaw Fentie3, Atsede Solomon4, Firdyawukal Abuhay5, Nigist Bizu1, Ahmed Abi ID6 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 1 Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sceince, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia, 2 Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Assosa University, Assosa, Ethiopia, 3 Department of Veterinary Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sceince, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia, 4 Department of Veterinary Pharmacy, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sceince, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia, 5 Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sceince, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia, 6 Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental, Department of Animal Production and Marketing, Sciences, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda * OPEN ACCESS Citation: Dagnaw M, Wodajnew B, Fentie T, Solomon A, Abuhay F, Bizu N, et al. (2023) Epidemiology of bovine schistosomiasis and associated risk factors in Ethiopia: A systematic review with meta-analysis of published articles, 2008–2018. PLoS ONE 18(7): e0283691. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283691 Editor: Hudson Alves Pinto, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, BRAZIL Received: September 2, 2022 Accepted: March 14, 2023 Published: July 31, 2023 Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. The editorial history of this article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283691 Copyright: © 2023 Dagnaw et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting information files. Abstract Schistosomiasis is a tropical and subtropical parasitic infection that affects both animals and humans. It’s caused by the Schistosoma genus and spreads via snails as an intermediate host. Schistosoma bovis is widely spread in Ethiopia’s Northern, Eastern, Southwestern, and Central regions. It is an economically significant cattle disease with global health implications. Despite numerous prevalence studies of bovine schistosomiasis in different regions of the country, no systematic review and meta-analysis of the disease has ever been undertaken. As a reason, the purpose of this research was to provide information that can be used in the planning and design of Schistosoma interventions in Ethiopia, as the world aims to eliminate schistosomiasis as a public health problem by 2030. The PRISMA statement guidline was used to check the eligiblities of the included studies. Electronic bibliographic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, HINARI, and Web of science, reference lists from retriv articles, books, libraries, megazins and existing reviews manaually were employed for literature searches. The pooled prevalence of bovine schistosomiasis and heterogeneity among included studies was estimated by employing random effect models and the inverse variance index, respectively. To investigate the source of heterogeneity across and within studies, subgroup analysis was undertaken based on sample size, study years, and study regions. To assess publication bias and small study effects, funnel plotsand Egger’s regression test were used. The pooled prevalence was calculated with a 95% confidence interval using STATA 17 software. To identify the various risk variables related to the prevalence of bovine schistosomiasis, a pooled odd ratio was used Based on the inclusion criteria, a total of 20 studies were discovered and included in the meta-analysis. The prevalence of bovine schistosomiasis was found to range from 22 to 45.7%. In this meta-analysis, the estimated pooled prevalence of bovine schistosomiasis was 24% (95% CI: 17% to PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283691 July 31, 2023 1 / 23 PLOS ONE Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Epidemiology of bovine schistosomiasis and associated risk factors in Ethiopia 31%). Substantial heterogeneity was observed across the included studies (I2 = 88.04%; p< 0.001). The results of the funnel plot and Egger’stests revealed no substantial publication bias (Egger’s test; p = 0.509). The pooled odds ratio indicated that poor body condition was positively associated with the infection rate of bovine schistosomiasis (OR: 4.915, 95% CI: 2.675 to 9.030; p<0.001), with poor body conditioned animals having 4.915 times higher likelihood to schistosomiasis infection. This review found that the overall prevalence of bovine schistosomiasis was high and the body condition of animals was identified risk factor for Schistosoma infection among the studied factors. Therefore, this review found that the occurrence of bovine schistosomiasis was strongly associated with the state of body condition of animals. Further, sufficient numbers of prospective studies should be conducted to address other potential risk factors of bovine schistosomiasis in Ethiopia. Introduction Schistosomiasis is one of the fifteen neglected tropical diseases (NTD) because it is unusual among the helminth diseases for two reasons: much of the pathogenesis is due to the eggs (rather than larvae or adults), and most of the pathology is caused by the host immune system (Delayed-type hypersensitivity and granulomatous reactions) [1] and is the second parasitic disease in humans after malaria. Schistosomiasis is referred to as bilharziasis after a German physician named Theodor Bilharz, who originally documented the cause of urinary schistosomiasis in 1851 [2]. Schistosomiasis affects the productivity, reproductive performance, and medically important parasitic disease of humans and animals living in the circulatory system of definitive hosts [3]. The major Schistosoma species that have a significant impact on domestic and wild animals are found throughout the world’s tropical and subtropical areas. These include the following: Schistosoma bovis parasitizes cattle, goats, and sheep in Africa and Southern Europe; Schistosoma mattheeii parasitizes sheep, cattle, and other domestic animals in southern Africa; Schistosoma japonicum parasitizes humans, cats, and mammals in Asia; Schistosoma magrebowiei parasitizes antelopes in Central Africa; and Schistosoma rodhaini para (...truncated)