Knowledge and disease management skills of cattle owners on East Coast Fever and Foot and Mouth Disease in Kazungula and Livingstone Districts of Zambia

Effective animal disease control and prevention should be based on accurate information from the field. Part of this field information can be obtained from the cattle owners. In order to assess their disease knowledge, a survey focusing on East Coast Fever (ECF) and Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) was organised among 302 cattle owners from the Kazungula and Livingstone Districts of the Southern Province of Zambia. The cattle owners' level of knowledge of ECF was low (34%) with most of those able to describe the disease belonging to the endemic zone where ECF caused high death rates in cattle. A larger proportion of the cattle owners (46%) were able to give an adequate description of FMD symptoms. It reached up to 61% in the FMD high-risk zone. Reporting to the animal health service providers appeared to be low. The results of the survey showed that attempts should be made to improve the cattle owners' knowledge and response to important diseases by carrying out more extension and sensitization activities. This is especially so in areas of low infection or where the disease was experienced long time ago

Structure Activity Relationship of Dendrimer Microbicides with Dual Action Antiviral Activity

Topical microbicides, used by women to prevent the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are urgently required. Dendrimers are highly branched nanoparticles being developed as microbicides. However, the anti-HIV and HSV structure-activity relationship of dendrimers comprising benzyhydryl amide cores and lysine branches, and a comprehensive analysis of their broad-spectrum anti-HIV activity and mechanism of action have not been published.Dendrimers with optimized activity against HIV-1 and HSV-2 were identified with respect to the number of lysine branches (generations) and surface groups. Antiviral activity was determined in cell culture assays. Time-of-addition assays were performed to determine dendrimer mechanism of action. In vivo toxicity and HSV-2 inhibitory activity were evaluated in the mouse HSV-2 susceptibility model. Surface groups imparting the most potent inhibitory activity against HIV-1 and HSV-2 were naphthalene disulfonic acid (DNAA) and 3,5-disulfobenzoic acid exhibiting the greatest anionic charge and hydrophobicity of the seven surface groups tested. Their anti-HIV-1 activity did not appreciably increase beyond a second-generation dendrimer while dendrimers larger than two generations were required for potent anti-HSV-2 activity. Second (SPL7115) and fourth generation (SPL7013) DNAA dendrimers demonstrated broad-spectrum anti-HIV activity. However, SPL7013 was more active against HSV and blocking HIV-1 envelope mediated cell-to-cell fusion. SPL7013 and SPL7115 inhibited viral entry with similar potency against CXCR4-(X4) and CCR5-using (R5) HIV-1 strains. SPL7013 was not toxic and provided at least 12 h protection against HSV-2 in the mouse vagina.Dendrimers can be engineered with optimized potency against HIV and HSV representing a unique platform for the controlled synthesis of chemically defined multivalent agents as viral entry inhibitors. SPL7013 is formulated as VivaGel(R) and is currently in clinical development to provide protection against HIV and HSV. SPL7013 could also be combined with other microbicides

Building capacity for improved veterinary epidemiosurveillance in southern Africa

A workshop to produce recommendations on training requirements for improved epidemiosurveillance of livestock diseases in southern Africa was organised at the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases in the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Pretoria. It was attended by 23 persons representing 10 different southern African countries. The majority of the participants were actively involved in veterinary epidemiosurveillance and many of them were members of the SADC Epidemiology and Informatics Subcommittee. Discussions focused on (i) epidemiosurveillance networks and their 2 main components, i.e. (ii) diagnosis and (iii) information flow. The debates were guided by 3 questions; (i) what are the requirements for an effective network, (ii) what cannot be achieved with existing capacity and (iii) how can the current capacity be improved. Workshop participants developed lists of realistic capacity building needs, which were divided into structural needs and training requirements. Structural needs mainly concerned communication means and quality assurance. With regard to training, the need for appropriate continuing education of all actors at the various disease management levels (non-professional, para-professional, professional) was expressed. Special emphasis was put on capacity building at the lowest level, i.e. the livestock owner and the para-professionals at the community level. At the international level, it was felt that special emphasis should be put on building capacity to improve the understanding of international agreements on trade in animals and animal products and to improve the capacity of negotiating such agreements

Study procedures and cohort status by study visit.

<p>Study procedures and cohort status by study visit.</p

Baseline participant characteristics.

<p>Abbreviations: ART, antiretroviral therapy; BMI, body mass index; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; hsCRP, high sensitivity C-reactive protein; IQR, interquartile range.</p><p>Among the 142 cases included in the multivariable analysis, values were missing for the following measurements: 8 (6%) baseline serum phosphate, 31 (22%) week one serum phosphate, 29 (20%) baseline hemoglobin (because either blood or assay reagents could not be obtained), 2 age (birth dates unknown), and one BMI (participant could not stand for height measurement).</p><p>*Normal creatinine range: females 44–80, males 53–106 µmol/L; normal albumin range: females 41–53, males 40–50 g/L; normal ferritin range: females 10–150, males 29–248 µg/L.</p

Adjusted hazard ratios for mortality at 12 weeks (baseline variables).

<p>There is little evidence that the association between phosphate and the hazard of death is non-linear based on a likelihood ratio test (p = 0.27). Similarly, there is little evidence that the association between any continuous variable and the hazard of death is non-linear (p>0.20 for each).</p