A meta-analysis of bovine tuberculosis in Indonesia: a concerning zoonotic disease

Abstract

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a zoonotic disease with high economic impact and public health concern. However, the understanding of bTB in Indonesia is limited. Thus, this study aims to to estimate the pooled prevalence of bTB in cattle in Indonesia using a meta-analysis. Five online databases were searched for related articles. The articles were screened by two independent reviewers following the inclusion criteria. The included studies went through quality assessment using five pre-determined question. The necessary data were extracted and analysed using random effect model in R studio 4.3.0 with “meta” R package to estimate the pooled prevalence, heterogeneity level, and risk of publication bias. Subgroup meta-analysis was conducted for subgroup diagnostic method and Mycobacterium species. The results showed that six studies fit in inclusion criteria, representing 711 samples. The quality assessment showed the included studies were good quality. The estimated pooled prevalence of bTB in Indonesia was 9.71% (95% CI, 1.47-43.69%) with high heterogeneity. Based on subgroup meta-analysis, no significant different was found in between non-molecular and molecular diagnostic methods (10.55% [95% CI, 0.48-42.03] vs 6.43 [95% CI, 1.64-22.11], p = 0.92). Similarly, between M. bovis and M. tuberculosis, no significant different prevalence was found (2.04% [95% CI, 0.38-10.13] vs 6.55% [95% CI, 0.15-76.17], p= 0.57). The risk of bias assessment showed no indication of severe publication bias. This study indicates the necessity of bTB active surveillance and epidemiological study in Indonesia. Furthermore, a control and preventive strategy for zoonotic transmission mitigation should be developed.