Onchocerciasis in Gilgel Ghibe River valley Southwest Ethiopia

Objective: To determine the prevalence of onchocerciasis and the entomological transmission indices such as the parous rate and annual transmission potential (ATP).Setting: Gilgel Ghibe village, Gilgel Ghibe River Valley Southwest Ethiopia between April 1994 and March 1995.Subjects: Two hundred twenty eight subjects of the total 400 population in Gilgel Ghibe village were subjected to parasitological and clinical examinations.Method: Two skin snips per person were taken and examined for microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus. Fly collections were done from dawn to dusk from human baits seated in pairs at four representative sites at the river bank and away from the river bank. Flies were dissected for parity and infections with O. volvulus larvae.Results: Among the 228 people examined, the prevalence of the disease was low (17%), being higher in males (19%) than in females (14%). The geometric mean of microfilarial density was 11.1 (range, 1-132) mf per skin snip. Itching followed by pigmentary changes were the most common clinical signs and symptoms. The predominant anthropophilic blackfly species was Simulium (Edwardsellum) damnosum s.l. The annual parous rate and ATP were 74.7% and 1669.5, respectively, being higher at the river bank than at sites further away suggesting a greater risk of infection by the river side.Conclusion: The low prevalence of onchocerciasis in Gilgel Ghibe area vis-a-vis the high ATP level could be due to the possible presence of bovine onchocerciasis in the area. Further studies employing molecular techniques are thus required to identify O. volvulus from other filariae in flies

Aspergillus species and aflatoxin contamination in pepper (Capsicum annuum l.) in West Gojjam, Ethiopia

Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important spice and source of income for smallholder producers in Ethiopia. Since the larger proportion is for the market, it takes a significant share of the national income from export commodity. However, often the product was rejected by some of the European Union markets due to the maximum aflatoxin level accumulations beyond their acceptable limits. So, the present study was carried out to highlight the importance of Aspergillus species invasion in pepper, and levels of aflatoxin contamination at maturity in the field (pod form), farmers' storage and local market (powder form) in West Gojjam, Ethiopia. A total of 135 pepper samples were collected from three districts of West Gojjam (Burie, Jabitehnan, and Fnoteselam), Ethiopia for fungal and aflatoxin analysis. The producers used a pre-validated structured questionnaire to obtain information on pepper production practices. Aspergillus species isolates were recovered using potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium and counting was through dilution method (cfu g-1). The pepper pods were ground to a fine powder for aflatoxin analysis using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The prevalence of infected samples revealed that, pre-harvest samples (51%) were less infected by Aspergillus species, compared to local markets (65 %) and storage (79 %). Aspergillus flavus species were recovered in pre-harvest samples, whilst A. niger were found in local market samples. Aflatoxin contamination at pre-harvest, storage, and local market were 10, 47, and 42 % with levels which ranged from non-detected to 10.6, 0.3 - 17.1 and 3.1 - 19.2 ppb, respectively. The mean aflatoxin concentration detected from storage samples (10.6 ppb) and local market (12.6 ppb) were found to be above the tolerable limits set by EU (5 ppb) in pepper products. From the findings in this study, proper drying, physical separation of molded pods and use of clean storage structures should be implemented along the production chain in order to reduce aflatoxin contamination in pepper in Ethiopia

Assessment of climate change impact on hydrological extremes in two source regions of the Nile River Basin

The potential impact of climate change was investigated on the hydrological extremes of Nyando River and Lake Tana catchments, which are located in two source regions of the Nile River basin. Climate change scenarios were developed for rainfall and potential evapotranspiration (ETo), considering 17 General Circulation Model (GCM) simulations to better understand the range of possible future change. They were constructed by transferring the extracted climate change signals to the observed series using a frequency perturbation downscaling approach, which accounts for the changes in rainfall extremes. Projected changes under two future SRES emission scenarios A1B and B1 for the 2050s were considered. Two conceptual hydrological models were calibrated and used for the impact assessment. Their difference in simulating the flows under future climate scenarios was also investigated. <br><br> The results reveal increasing mean runoff and extreme peak flows for Nyando catchment for the 2050s while unclear trend is observed for Lake Tana catchment for mean volumes and high/low flows. The hydrological models for Lake Tana catchment, however, performed better in simulating the hydrological regimes than for Nyando, which obviously also induces a difference in the reliability of the extreme future projections for both catchments. The unclear impact result for Lake Tana catchment implies that the GCM uncertainty is more important for explaining the unclear trend than the hydrological models uncertainty. Nevertheless, to have a better understanding of future impact, hydrological models need to be verified for their credibility of simulating extreme flows

Heterosis in locally adapted sorghum genotypes and potential of hybrids for increased productivity in contrasting environments in Ethiopia

Increased productivity in sorghum has been achieved in the developed world using hybrids. Despite their yield advantage, introduced hybrids have not been adopted in Ethiopia due to the lack of adaptive traits, their short plant stature and small grain size. This study was conducted to investigate hybrid performance and the magnitude of heterosis of locally adapted genotypes in addition to introduced hybrids in three contrasting environments in Ethiopia. In total, 139 hybrids, derived from introduced seed parents crossed with locally adapted genotypes and introduced R lines, were evaluated. Overall, the hybrids matured earlier than the adapted parents, but had higher grain yield, plant height, grain number and grain weight in all environments. The lowland adapted hybrids displayed a mean better parent heterosis (BPH) of 19%, equating to 1160 kg ha− 1 and a 29% mean increase in grain yield, in addition to increased plant height and grain weight, in comparison to the hybrids derived from the introduced R lines. The mean BPH for grain yield for the highland adapted hybrids was 16% in the highland and 52% in the intermediate environment equating to 698 kg ha− 1 and 2031 kg ha− 1, respectively, in addition to increased grain weight. The magnitude of heterosis observed for each hybrid group was related to the genetic distance between the parental lines. The majority of hybrids also showed superiority over the standard check varieties. In general, hybrids from locally adapted genotypes were superior in grain yield, plant height and grain weight compared to the high parents and introduced hybrids indicating the potential for hybrids to increase productivity while addressing farmers' required traits

Study on knowledge, attitude and dog ownership patterns related to rabies prevention and control in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The study was conducted from May 2003 to August 2003 in Addis Ababa with the objective of understanding the distribution of stray and owned dogs, dog ownership patterns and attitudes of people towards rabies and its prevention and control methods. A total of 2390 households were selected from 6 Sub Cities of Addis Ababa using stratified random sampling and were interviewed using structured questionnaires. From the total households interviewed, 969 (40.5%) of them were known to own one or more dogs, and the total number of owned dogs was estimated to be 225,078. Male dogs make up 1042 (78.4%) of the total owned dogs. Almost half of all the dogs 463 (47.8%) were tied only for some time during the day whereas 320 (33.1%) of the dogs were not tied at all and freely move from place to place and contribute to high dog bites in human beings and for the widespread occurrence of canine rabies in Addis Ababa. Six hundred fifty five (67.6%) of the interviewed households who owned dogs had a well fenced house. Most of the owned dogs 856 (88.4%) get their food from their owners and only 321 (33.3%) of the owners reported that they let their dogs to be vaccinated while the majority of the owners 644 (66.5%) do not let their dogs vaccinated regularly. A significant proportion of the interviewed households 2,323 (97.2%), (P < 0.05) indicated that they have the knowledge that dogs, cats and other animals can transmit rabies to humans and 1,752 (73.4%) of the households replied that rabies can be transmitted through bite, scratch and lick to open wounds. Analysis of the list of 2400 post exposure human antirabies treatments recorded at the EHNRI Zoonoses Laboratory from February 2002 to October 2003 showed that the most common animals involved in biting people were dogs. A total of 2198 (91.6%) people were bitten by dogs during the same period and most of them, 2053 (85.5%) were bitten on their hands and legs. All the above data indicated the need for a strong and coordinated rabies control activities to be conducted in the city

Summary of research for development ‘best practice’ technologies validated in the Africa RISING Endamehoni site in Ethiopia, 2013-2016

United States Agency for International Developmen