Exploring local knowledge and perceptions on zoonoses among pastoralists in northern and eastern Tanzania

Background: Zoonoses account for the most commonly reported emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is limited knowledge on how pastoral communities perceive zoonoses in relation to their livelihoods, culture and their wider ecology. This study was carried out to explore local knowledge and perceptions on zoonoses among pastoralists in Tanzania. Methodology and principal findings: This study involved pastoralists in Ngorongoro district in northern Tanzania and Kibaha and Bagamoyo districts in eastern Tanzania. Qualitative methods of focus group discussions, participatory epidemiology and interviews were used. A total of 223 people were involved in the study. Among the pastoralists, there was no specific term in their local language that describes zoonosis. Pastoralists from northern Tanzania possessed a higher understanding on the existence of a number of zoonoses than their eastern districts' counterparts. Understanding of zoonoses could be categorized into two broad groups: a local syndromic framework, whereby specific symptoms of a particular illness in humans concurred with symptoms in animals, and the biomedical framework, where a case definition is supported by diagnostic tests. Some pastoralists understand the possibility of some infections that could cross over to humans from animals but harm from these are generally tolerated and are not considered as threats. A number of social and cultural practices aimed at maintaining specific cultural functions including social cohesion and rites of passage involve animal products, which present zoonotic risk. Conclusions: These findings show how zoonoses are locally understood, and how epidemiology and biomedicine are shaping pastoralists perceptions to zoonoses. Evidence is needed to understand better the true burden and impact of zoonoses in these communities. More studies are needed that seek to clarify the common understanding of zoonoses that could be used to guide effective and locally relevant interventions. Such studies should consider in their approaches the pastoralists' wider social, cultural and economic set up

Sero-Prevalence Of Brucellosis In Smallholder Dairy, Agropastoral, Pastoral, Beef Ranch And Wildlife Animals In Tanzania

A total of 2738 livestock sera from smallholder dairy, pastoral and agro-pastoral herds were screened for antibodies for Brucella spp using the Rose Bengal Plate test. Screening for Brucella antibodies was also carried out on 403 cattle sera that were purposively collected from one ranch which had a history of abortion and also from 90 wildlife animals that were darted for various purposes. The results of sero-conversion revealed that cattle, small ruminants and wildlife animals were exposed to Brucella infection, with the sero-prevalence of the infection being 6.2%, 6.5% and 13% respectively. Pastoral farming system had significantly higher Brucella antibodies (

Performance characteristics and costs of serological tests for brucellosis in a pastoralist community of northern Tanzania

The control of brucellosis across sub-Saharan Africa is hampered by the lack of standardized testing and the use of tests with poor performance. This study evaluated the performance and costs of serological assays for human brucellosis in a pastoralist community in northern Tanzania. Serum collected from 218 febrile hospital patients was used to evaluate the performance of seven index tests, selected based on international recommendation or current use. We evaluated the Rose Bengal test (RBT) using two protocols, four commercial agglutination tests and a competitive enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, Youden’s index, diagnostic accuracy, and per-sample cost of each index test were estimated. The diagnostic accuracy estimates ranged from 95.9 to 97.7% for the RBT, 55.0 to 72.0% for the commercial plate tests, and 89.4% for the cELISA. The per-sample cost range was $0.69–$0.79 for the RBT, $1.03–$1.14 for the commercial plate tests, and $2.51 for the cELISA. The widely used commercial plate tests performed poorly and cost more than the RBT. These findings provide evidence for the public health value of discontinuing the use of commercial agglutination tests for human brucellosis in Tanzania.DELTAS Africa Initiative Afrique One-ASPIRE scholarship scheme (Afrique One-ASPIRE/DEL-15-008, http://afriq ueone aspir e.org). Â.J.M is supported by The University of Glasgow’s Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith (LKAS) PhD scholarship. R.F.B received scholarship support from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Department for International Development (DFID), the Economic & Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council and the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, under the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems – Associated Studentship (ZELS-AS) programme (grant number BB/N503563/1). This study was also supported by the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems program grant numbers BB/L018845 and BB/ L017679 http://www.bbsrc .ac.uk/)

Prevalence and risk factors of bovine tuberculosis in dairy cattle in Eritrea

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of bovine tuberculosis (BTB) in dairy cattle in the three major milk producing regions of Eritrea was assessed by subjecting 15,354 dairy cattle, 50 % of Eritrea's dairy cattle population, to the single intradermal comparative tuberculin test (SICTT). Skin test results were interpreted according to guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) with >4 mm as cutoff in skin thickness increase. In addition, we studied the relation between 'physiological' variables related to pregnancy and lactation, and the variable 'region' on the probability to be skin test positive. RESULTS: The BTB prevalences at animal and herd levels were: 21.5 % and 40.9 % in Maekel, 7.3 % and 10 % in Debub, and 0.2 % and 1.6 % in the Anseba region, respectively. Overall, in the regions included, prevalence was 11.3 % (confidence interval (CI) 95 % CI, 11.29 - 11.31 %) and 17.3 % (95 % CI, 17.27-17.33 %), at animal and herd level, respectively. Considering positive herds only, the animal BTB prevalence was 36.8 %, 30.1 %, and 1.8 %, in Maekel, Debub and Anseba, respectively, and the overall animal prevalence within these herds was 32 %. In adult dairy cattle the probability of positive reactivity in the SICTT test was highest in pregnant animals as compared to the other categories. CONCLUSION: This study reports persistent prevalence of BTB as defined by positive SICTT in the dairy sector of Eritrea, especially in the regions of Maekel and Debub that are located in the central highlands of the country. To our understanding this is the first report that has encompassed all the major dairy farms in Eritrea and it will be instrumental in advocating future BTB control programs in the dairy sector