Schistosomal Peritonitis Presenting as Acute Abdomen: A Case Report

Background-Schistosomiasis is a trematode infestation causing a chronic granulomatous disease in various organs. Both S. mansoni & S. haematobium are endemic in Ethiopia. Most infected individuals are asymptomatic. Ectopic schistosomiasis can affect the lungs, genitalia, CNS, skin, peritoneum, Lymph nodes & other organs. Schistosomiasis as a cause of acute abdomen is seldom reported.Case Detail-A 51years -old male Ethiopian farmer presented with a two weeks history of abdominal pain with recent onset bilious vomiting and abdominal distention. Emergency laparotomy done & the finding was multiple tiny whitish nodule over the peritoneum & small bowel with multiple mesenteric lymphadenopathy. The diagnosis was confirmed with histopathology study.Conclusions- Schistosomal peritonitis is a very uncommon form of schistosomiasis. Physicians should be aware of such atypical presentation in patients from endemic areas of schistosomiasis. And biopsy should be considered in unsettled forms of peritonitis during laparotomy. The pathogenesis is not well known which warrants further study

EFFECT OF BOTANICALS SEED PRIMING ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF MALT BARLEY (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Application of seed dressing synthetic compounds for enhancing yield and yield components of crops is becoming very expensive for resource poor farmers beside its negative effect on the natural environment. Thus, the current field and laboratory experiment was conducted during the 2018 main cropping season for testing the potential of locally available plant extracts; garlic (Allium sativum), ginger (Zingiber officinale), neem seed (Azadracta indica), varnonia leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) and crouton leaf (Crouton macrostachya)  as seed priming materials on malt barley. Three levels of each priming material (5%, 10% and 15 % concentration) were prepared and full sized malt barley seeds were soaked for 12hrs in these priming materials. Seed dressing chemical (Dynamic 400 FS), distilled water soaked seeds, and dry seeds were used as a control for the field experiment. Primed seeds with all concentrations of botanicals, including distilled water and dynamic dressing chemical had a significant enhancing effect on agronomic parameters of malt barley under both laboratory and field conditions except for the effect of ginger extract priming which negatively affected the agronomic parameters as compared to dry planted (untreated) seeds. However, there was clear variation among botanical extracts and this is depending on their concentration and types of used botanicals. Among the tested botanicals, all three levels of garlic extracts have a significant enhancing effect on all agronomic parameters and this was followed by the neem. From the result of this study, seed priming with naturally available plant materials were found to improve yield and yield components of malt barley where for this particular experiment, all levels of garlic performed best as compared to other priming materials

Retrospective Study on the Occurrence of Reportable Priority Cattle Diseases in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State, Southern Ethiopia

A retrospective study was conducted between October 2016 and March 2017 in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS) to identify major reportable cattle disease outbreaks. The retrospective study was based on a nine years (2007-2015) cattle disease outbreak report data retrieved from the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MoLF) data bases. The retrospective study revealed that of the 15,840 disease outbreak reports expected from SNNPRS, only 1,578 (11%) reports were submitted to MoLF during the nine years’ time. According to the data retrieved from MoLF, a total of 1,496 cattle disease outbreaks with 44,646 morbidity cases and 4,709 mortalities were recorded in SNNPRS over the nine years period. The outbreaks were caused by blackleg (40.6%), hemorrhagic septicemia (HS) (26.3%), lumpy skin disease (LSD) (16%), anthrax (11.4%), foot and mouth disease (FMD) (4.7%), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) (0.8%) and rabies (0.3%) in decreasing order of their proportion. LSD was responsible for the highest proportion of morbidity cases (35.9%) followed by FMD (26.2%) while blackleg and LSD were the leading causes of cattle mortalities, which accounted for 31% and 30.2% of the deaths recorded, respectively. In contrast, the lowest number of outbreaks, morbidity and mortality of cattle was caused by rabies. Disease outbreaks were occurred in all the seasons of the year; however, relatively higher number of outbreaks (30.7%) was recorded in early dry season (September to November). In conclusion, the retrospective study has shown a very low level of disease outbreak reporting rate in SNNPRS, which may be due to misreporting or no outbreak of diseases

Fasciolosis: Prevalence, financial losses due to liver condemnation and evaluation of a simple sedimentation diagnostic technique in cattle slaughtered at Hawassa Municipal abattoir, southern Ethiopia

This study was carried out from November 2007 to April 2008 to determine the prevalence of fasciolosis and costs incurred due to liver condemnation and evaluate the sensitivity of direct sedimentation method for diagnosis of fasciolosis in cattle slaughtered at Hawassa Municipal abattoir. A total of 3251 adult indigenous cattle were slaughtered at the abattoir during the study period, of which 931 animals (28.63%) were found to be positive for fasciolosis. There was a statistically significant (χ2 = 33.10; p = 0.004) variation in prevalence between the study months where the highest (35.6%) and lowest (21.03%) prevalence were recorded in February and April, respectively. Fasciola hepatica (58.9%) was the predominant fluke identified compared to F. gigantica (10.6%). Mixed infections by both species and unidentified immature flukes were detected in 14.7% and 15.8% of the affected livers, respectively. The mean fluke burden in the affected livers was 55 flukes per liver. As to the severity of infection, 36.63%, 52.31% and 11.06% were lightly, moderately and severely affected, respectively. Moderately affected livers showed the highest mean fluke count (69 ± 1.91) followed by severely (48 ± 1.71) and lightly affected ones (25 ± 1.75) signifying the presence of acquired resistance and local tissue reaction as chronicity of infection supervenes. Taking liver examination as gold standard for diagnosis of fasciolosis, the sensitivity of the direct sedimentation technique was found to be 67.13% and the specificity 100% with substantial agreement (k = 0.74) between the two methods. The financial loss due to liver condemnation was estimated to be 106,400 Ethiopian birr (8312.5 USD) per annum. In conclusion, the observation of such a level of infection in the dry season, high fluke pathogenicity and substantial financial loss associated with condemnation of infected livers warrants the institution of appropriate control measures. Keywords: Cattle, fasciolosis, financial loss, Hawassa abattoir, prevalence, southern Ethiopi

Cryptosporidium in Calves, Lambs and Kids at Haramaya, eastern Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was carried out from November 2010 to April 2011 to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium in calves, lambs and kids and to assess potential risk factors in Haramaya, eastern Ethiopia. Hence, fecal samples from a total of 237 study animals (133 calves, 63 lambs and 41 kids) were tested with Sheather’s flotation technique and Modified Ziehl-Neelsen Staining. Accordingly, the overall prevalence was found to be 23.6% (56/237) with the prevalence of 27.8% (37/133) in calves, 22.2% (14/63) in lambs and 12.2% (5/41) in kids. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium significantly (p = 0.047) varied with species of study animals being three times higher likelihood of occurrence in calves compared to its chance of occurrence in kids (OR = 2.8, 95%CI = 1.0, 7.6). No significant difference in prevalence was observed between kids and lambs. The occurrence of the disease was also assessed among the species of animals by taking into consideration different demographic characteristic of the animals including breed, age and sex. For caprine, the prevalence was higher in the cross breed animals (28.6%) followed by the breed of Hararge highland (25%) with no report of the disease in Boer and Ogaden breeds. In ovine, no association was observed between the infection occurrence and the potential risk factors. Analysis of the risk factors in bovine revealed a significant (p = 0.044) difference in disease occurrence among age groups with almost three times more likelihood of the disease occurrence in calves under 3 months than older age category(OR = 2.9, 95%CI = 1.0, 8.2). In conclusion, this study demonstrated the importance of Cryptosporidium in young ruminants with a higher prevalence among calves than lambs and kids.Key words: Cryptosporidium; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Calves, Lambs, Kids, Haramaya, Ethiopi

A dynamic model of transmission and elimination of peste des petits ruminants in Ethiopia

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), a devastating viral disease of sheep and goats, has been targeted by the global community for eradication within the next 15 years. Although an efficacious attenuated live vaccine is available, the lack of knowledge about the transmission potential of PPR virus (PPRV) may compromise eradication efforts. By fitting a metapopulation model simulating PPRV spread to the results of a nationwide serological survey in Ethiopia, we estimated the level of viral transmission in an endemic setting and the vaccination coverage required for elimination. Results suggest that the pastoral production system as a whole acts as a viral reservoir, from which PPRV spills over into the sedentary production system, where viral persistence is uncertain. Estimated levels of PPRV transmission indicate that viral spread could be prevented if the proportion of immune small ruminants is kept permanently above 37% in at least 71% of pastoral village populations. However, due to the high turnover of these populations, maintaining the fraction of immune animals above this threshold would require high vaccine coverage within villages, and vaccination campaigns to be conducted annually. Adapting vaccination strategies to the specific characteristics of the local epidemiological context and small ruminant population dynamics would result in optimized allocation of limited resources and increase the likelihood of PPR eradication

Dairy cattle lameness prevalence, causes and risk factors in selected farms of southern Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2018 to December 2019 to estimate the prevalence of lameness in dairy cows, to  assess the causes and associated risk factors in southern Ethiopia. A total of 2009 dairy cows were visually and clinically examined, and the overall prevalence of lameness was found to be 14. 1% (95% CI=12.7-15.7). The prevalence of lameness was significantly (P< 0.05) higher in Arsi Negelle, Yirgalem, and Wolaita Sodo than in Wondo Genet and Hawassa. The prevalence of lameness was also associated with the stages of pregnancy and parity (P < 0.05). Generally, the prevalence of lameness in dairy cows was increasing with the increase in parity and stage of pregnancy. The main abnormalities observed in this study were hooves overgrowth (6%), lesions between hooves (4%), lesions on legs (2.2%), trauma (0.6%), arthritis (0.5%), and a sole ulcer (0.3%). Most of these abnormalities were mainly due to faulty  management. Hence, based on this finding it is recommended that hoof management and trimming are very essential components of lameness control. Furthermore, early detection and treatment of lame cows; training of the owners on hoof management; and  improvement of the housing are helpful to keep lameness at a lower level

Experimental Evaluation on Comparative Performance of Native Plant Species in Removing Turbidity and Microbial Load for Household Water Treatment

Unsafe drinking water is a paramount concern because of the fact that, 75% of all diseases in developing countries are arising from polluted drinking water especially in rural parts of developing countries. This work investigates on comparative performance of native plant species in removing turbidity and microbial load as compared to alum and chlorine for household water treatment. Water treatment using Maerua subcordata (Gilg) De Wolf and Moringa stenopetala (Bakj) Cufod were able to achieve appreciable removal efficiency in both turbidity and microbial load at an optimum dose range of 0.01gm/L to 0.03 gm/L in synthetic water and natural surface water samples. Plant coagulants showed relatively lower removal efficiency (≈70%) as compared to alum (≈80%) at low turbidity (20 NTU) in synthetic water. However, in natural water samples of low turbidity, plant coagulants showed high rate of turbidity removal efficiency (≈90%) like that of alum. Plant coagulants can also achieve maximum turbidity removal (≈97%) like that of alum in medium turbidity level (200 NTU) in both natural and synthetic water samples. The experimental result revealed that plant coagulants were able to meet World Health Organization standards of drinking water quality (< 5 NTU) in terms of turbidity. The microbial reduction experiment also revealed that plant coagulants can effectively disinfect water at low turbidity but becomes less potent disinfectant as turbidity increases. Key words:Coagulation, Disinfection, Household water treatment, Native plants, Turbidit