Brucellosis remains a neglected disease inthe developing world: a call forinterdisciplinary action

Brucellosis places significant burdens on the human healthcare system and limits the economic growth of individuals, communities, and nations where such development is especially important to diminish the prevalence of poverty. The implementation of public policy focused on mitigating the socioeconomic effects of brucellosis in human and animal populations is desperately needed. When developing a plan to mitigate the associated consequences, it is vital to consider both the abstract and quantifiable effects. This requires an interdisciplinary and collaborative, or One Health, approach that consists of public education, the development of an infrastructure for disease surveillance and reporting in both veterinary and medical fields, and campaigns for control in livestock and wildlife species

Mosquito Abundance, Bed net Coverage and Other Factors Associated with Variations in Sporozoite Infectivity Rates in Four Villages of Rural Tanzania.

Entomological surveys are of great importance in decision-making processes regarding malaria control strategies because they help to identify associations between vector abundance both species-specific ecology and disease intervention factors associated with malaria transmission. Sporozoite infectivity rates, mosquito host blood meal source, bed net coverage and mosquito abundance were assessed in this study. A longitudinal survey was conducted in four villages in two regions of Tanzania. Malaria vectors were sampled using the CDC light trap and pyrethrum spray catch methods. In each village, ten paired houses were selected for mosquitoes sampling. Sampling was done in fortnight case and study was undertaken for six months in both Kilimanjaro (Northern Tanzania) and Dodoma (Central Tanzania) regions. A total of 6,883 mosquitoes were collected including: 5,628 (81.8%) Anopheles arabiensis, 1,100 (15.9%) Culex quinquefasciatus, 89 (1.4%) Anopheles funestus, and 66 (0.9%) Anopheles gambiae s.s. Of the total mosquitoes collected 3,861 were captured by CDC light trap and 3,022 by the pyrethrum spray catch method. The overall light trap: spray catch ratio was 1.3:1. Mosquito densities per room were 96.5 and 75.5 for light trap and pyrethrum spray catch respectively. Mosquito infectivity rates between villages that have high proportion of bed net owners and those without bed nets was significant (P < 0.001) and there was a significant difference in sporozoite rates between households with and without bed nets in these four villages (P < 0.001). Malaria remains a major problem in the study areas characterized as low transmission sites. Further studies are required to establish the annual entomological inoculation rates and to observe the annual parasitaemia dynamics in these communities. Outdoor mosquitoes collection should also be considered

"Every Newborn-BIRTH" protocol: observational study validating indicators for coverage and quality of maternal and newborn health care in Bangladesh, Nepal and Tanzania.

Background: To achieve Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage, programmatic data are essential. The Every Newborn Action Plan, agreed by all United Nations member states and >80 development partners, includes an ambitious Measurement Improvement Roadmap. Quality of care at birth is prioritised by both Every Newborn and Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality strategies, hence metrics need to advance from health service contact alone, to content of care. As facility births increase, monitoring using routine facility data in DHIS2 has potential, yet validation research has mainly focussed on maternal recall surveys. The Every Newborn - Birth Indicators Research Tracking in Hospitals (EN-BIRTH) study aims to validate selected newborn and maternal indicators for routine tracking of coverage and quality of facility-based care for use at district, national and global levels. Methods: EN-BIRTH is an observational study including >20 000 facility births in three countries (Tanzania, Bangladesh and Nepal) to validate selected indicators. Direct clinical observation will be compared with facility register data and a pre-discharge maternal recall survey for indicators including: uterotonic administration, immediate newborn care, neonatal resuscitation and Kangaroo mother care. Indicators including neonatal infection management and antenatal corticosteroid administration, which cannot be easily observed, will be validated using inpatient records. Trained clinical observers in Labour/Delivery ward, Operation theatre, and Kangaroo mother care ward/areas will collect data using a tablet-based customised data capturing application. Sensitivity will be calculated for numerators of all indicators and specificity for those numerators with adequate information. Other objectives include comparison of denominator options (ie, true target population or surrogates) and quality of care analyses, especially regarding intervention timing. Barriers and enablers to routine recording and data usage will be assessed by data flow assessments, quantitative and qualitative analyses. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first large, multi-country study validating facility-based routine data compared to direct observation for maternal and newborn care, designed to provide evidence to inform selection of a core list of indicators recommended for inclusion in national DHIS2. Availability and use of such data are fundamental to drive progress towards ending the annual 5.5 million preventable stillbirths, maternal and newborn deaths.Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)Swedish Research CouncilUnited States Agency for International DevelopmentSaving Newborn Lives/Save the ChildrenWHOBill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Prostitutes in Moshi and Arusha, Northern Tanzania

Sexually transmitted diseases are thought to be important in facilitating transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. This study reports the prevalence of several sexually transmitted diseases in 106 prostitutes in Arusha and Moshi Northern Tanzania. The seroprevalence of HIV was 73% compared with 3% for local blood donors. Over half (51%) of the subjects had evidence of N. gonorrhoeae infection. Seventy-four per cent had a positive TPHA and 27% a positive RPR. Of 47 subjects tested 12 (25%) had Chlamydia trachomatis antigen detected in endocervical swabs. No significant statistical association was found between the presence of any of the STDs investigated and HIV seropositivity. </jats:p

Vector species composition and malaria infectivity rates in Mkuzi, Muheza District, north-eastern Tanzania

Entomological surveys were conducted in Mkuzi village in Muheza District, north-east Tanzania from April to September 2003. The objectives were to determine the species composition and infectivity rates of mosquitoes in Mkuzi village. Mosquito collection was done using CDC light trap and pyrethrum spray catch (PSC) techniques. The light trap: spray catch ratio was 2.2:1. A total of 2157 mosquitoes were collected (light trap= 1483; PSC= 674). Anopheles gambiae s.s. accounted for 56.7% (N=1224) of all mosquitoes collected. Other species were An. funestus complex (19.2%) and Culex quinquefasciatus (24.1%).The mosquito density per room was 74.15 and 33.7 for light trap and PSC techniques, respectively. A total of 1637 Anopheles mosquitoes were tested for circumsporozoite protein by Enzyme linked Immunosobent Assay (ELISA). The overall infectivity rate for circumsporozoite protein for P. falciparum in Anopheles mosquitoes was 21.14% (346/1637). Species-specific infectivity rates were 22.7% (278/1224) in An. gambiae s.s. and 24.0 % (68/283) in An. funestus funestus, 0% (0/80) for An. rivulorum and 0% (0/50) for An.parensis. Blood meal analysis indicated that 92.3 % of An. gambiae s.s, 88.9% of An. funestus s.s., 64.5% of An. rivulorum and 67.7% of An. parensis had taken blood meal from human hosts. In conclusion, malaria transmission in Mkuzi area of Muheza district is mainly by the highly anthropophagic An. gambiae s.s. and An. funestus s.s. More studies are needed to identify the seasonal variation of species composition and transmission dynamics in this village

Serological and molecular characterisation of Leprospira serovar Kenya from captive African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) from Morogoro Tanzania

FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology, 2004; 41 : 117–121Two identical leptospiral isolates coded Sh9 and Sh25 obtained from the urine of captive African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus), destined for use as biodetector of antipersonnel landmines were typed as serovar Kenya using cross-agglutination absorption test and DNA fingerprinting with the insertion element sequences IS1533 and IS1500 derived primers. The two isolates were previously characterized using cultural and serological – microagglutination test as pathogenic leptospires of the serogroup Ballum, closely related to serovars Kenya and Peru. To our knowledge, this is the first reported in-depth characterization of leptospira isolates from Tanzania

Vector species composition and malaria infectivity rates in Mkuzi, Muheza District, north-eastern Tanzania

Entomological surveys were conducted in Mkuzi village in Muheza District, north-east Tanzania from April to September 2003. The objectives were to determine the species composition and infectivity rates of mosquitoes in Mkuzi village. Mosquito collection was done using CDC light trap and pyrethrum spray catch (PSC) techniques. The light trap: spray catch ratio was 2.2:1. A total of 2157 mosquitoes were collected (light trap= 1483; PSC= 674). Anopheles gambiae s.s. accounted for 56.7% (N=1224) of all mosquitoes collected. Other species were An. funestus complex (19.2%) and Culex quinquefasciatus (24.1%).The mosquito density per room was 74.15 and 33.7 for light trap and PSC techniques, respectively. A total of 1637 Anopheles mosquitoes were tested for circumsporozoite protein by Enzyme linked Immunosobent Assay (ELISA). The overall infectivity rate for circumsporozoite protein for P. falciparum in Anopheles mosquitoes was 21.14% (346/1637). Species-specific infectivity rates were 22.7% (278/1224) in An. gambiae s.s. and 24.0 % (68/283) in An. funestus funestus, 0% (0/80) for An. rivulorum and 0% (0/50) for An.parensis. Blood meal analysis indicated that 92.3 % of An. gambiae s.s, 88.9% of An. funestus s.s., 64.5% of An. rivulorum and 67.7% of An. parensis had taken blood meal from human hosts. In conclusion, malaria transmission in Mkuzi area of Muheza district is mainly by the highly anthropophagic An. gambiae s.s. and An. funestus s.s. More studies are needed to identify the seasonal variation of species composition and transmission dynamics in this village