Prevalence of Bumble Foot Disease in Backyard Chickens in Qarabagh District of Kabul, Afghanistan

Abstract

‌Bumble foot is a condition in which the feet and toes of birds (especially chickens) become inflamed and necrotic. The main causes of the disease are bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas spp, and Escherichia coli), fungi, or yeasts. Bumble foot disease was first reported in 1980 as a skin disease of broilers. Bumble foot is extremely important due to its high incidence and mortality rate. But in Afghanistan, there are no accurate statistics about the prevalence of bumble foot disease in backyard and broiler chickens, so the purpose of this research is to study the prevalence and identify different grades of bumble foot disease in backyard chickens in Qarabagh district of Kabul province. This research was conducted on 2025 backyard chickens in 18 villages of Qarabagh district. In this research, both a questionnaire and a visual assessment system were used. A 5-point scoring system was used for the visual assessment of Bumble Foot. Skin without lesion (grade 0), superficial lesion ≤ 0.5 cm (grade 1), superficial lesion > 0.5 cm (grade 2), deep lesion > 1.0 cm (grade 3), and one or more deeper lesions on the toe (grade 4). All data was gathered by a veterinarian using a random sampling method, and then analyzed by (MS Excel) and (SPSS statistical software Version 23). As a result of this research, it was found that 128 chickens were affected by bumble foot disease, with a prevalence rate of 6.3%. The results of this research show that the prevalence of bumble foot disease is higher in hens (62.5%) than in roosters (37.5). Among the 128 infected chickens, 5.4% were grade 0, 34.3% were grade 1 32.8% were grade 2, 21.8% were grade 3, and 5.4% were grade 4. The prevalence rate of bumble foot disease in backyard chickens was lower than in broiler chickens. Among the 128 infected chickens, most of them had moderate and severe disease.