Researchers develop Rift Valley fever risk map for Kenya to aid prevention and control of the disease

Cow in Kenya. A new Rift Valley fever risk map for Kenya will help develop prevention and control measures to combat the disease in the country (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

A new Rift Valley fever risk map for Kenya, based on data from a period spanning over 50 years, will be an important tool for use in developing measures to prevent and control the disease in the country.

Rift Valley fever is a viral disease that affects animals such as cattle, sheep, camels and goats. It is also a zoonotic disease, meaning it can be transmitted from animals to people.

Rift Valley fever epidemics occur every 3 to 10 years in specific regions of the Greater Horn of Africa, southern and western Africa and in the Arabian Peninsula, resulting in high rates of infection and death among people and livestock.

In Kenya, the most recent outbreaks of the disease occurred in 1997-98 and 2006-07. Experts agree that the severity of Rift Valley fever epidemics can be reduced through the use of effective early warning systems followed by rapid implementation of prevention and control measures.

In 2008, international experts and decision-makers from eastern Africa developed a risk-based decision support framework designed to guide responses during various stages of the Rift Valley fever disease cycle.

Now, a team of researchers from Kenya, the Netherlands and the United States of America has added to the arsenal of tools to prevent and control Rift Valley fever by using surveillance data from 1951 to 2007 to develop a Rift Valley fever risk map for Kenya.

The map shows the risk of an outbreak of the disease for each of the 391 administrative divisions in the country (based on the 1999 administrative map), classifying the divisions as high, medium or low risk.

The authors of the study say that the Rift Valley fever risk map will provide the Government of Kenya with an evidence-base from which it can respond to a Rift Valley fever epidemic warning as well as develop long-term prevention and control programs in high-risk areas.

The map is published in an article in the journal PLOS ONE (25 Jan 2016): Predictive factors and risk mapping for Rift Valley fever epidemics in Kenya

Citation
Munyua, P.M., Murithi, R.M., Ithondeka, P., Hightower, A., Thumbi, S.M., Anyangu, S.A., Kiplimo, J., Bett, B., Vrieling, A., Breiman, R.F. and Njenga, M.K. 2016. Predictive factors and risk mapping for Rift Valley fever epidemics in Kenya. PLOS ONE 11(1): e0144570.

 

New research paper reviews the emerging threat of microsporidia, a group of foodborne parasites

Catch of the day, Khulna, Bangladesh. Fish are among the aquatic hosts of microsporidia, a group of emerging foodborne parasites. (photo credit: WorldFish/Yousuf Tushar).

In December 2015, the World Health Organization published a report of the first ever global and regional estimates of the burden of foodborne diseases.

The report estimates the burden of foodborne diseases caused by 31 agents – bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals – and shows that almost 1 in 10 people fall ill every year from eating contaminated food and 420,000 die as a result.

Children under five years of age are at particularly high risk, with 125,000 children dying from foodborne diseases every year. Africa and Southeast Asia have the highest burden of foodborne diseases.

Microsporidia are among the many contributors to the global burden of foodborne disease, although they are not currently considered to be priority foodborne parasites.

Microsporidia are a group of spore-forming parasites that infect a wide range of host organisms, including humans. People can get infected with microsporidia through ingesting contaminated food and water. People with weakened immune systems are at particularly high risk of infection.

To address the growing threat of this emerging group of pathogens, a group of experts met at a symposium entitled “Microsporidia in the animal to human food chain: An international symposium to address chronic epizootic disease”. The meeting was sponsored by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and held in Vancouver, Canada in August 2015.

Kristina Roesel, a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), presented a paper entitled “Parasites in food chains”. Her presentation contributed to a collaborative review article, “Microsporidia – Emergent pathogens in the global food chain”, published in the journal Trends in Parasitology (18 Jan 2016).

The article examines the threat of microsporidia in food, water and major food production chains. The authors note that climate change may result in a greater disease burden in hosts from all environments and thus increase the contact rate between infected animals and humans. A One Health approach will, therefore, be useful to manage the risks of microsporidian infections in wildlife, food animals and humans.

 

Symposium to discuss results on estimates of global burden of foodborne diseases

Testing milk in Kenya’s informal market (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth).

Illness and death from diseases caused by contaminated food are a constant threat to public health and a significant impediment to socioeconomic development worldwide.

To help address the lack of data on the global extent of this problem, the World Health Organization established the Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG) to generate the first ever estimates of the global burden of foodborne disease.

The group published its results in December 2015 in a series of scientific articles in PLOS Collections and a report titled WHO estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases.

They include estimates of the burden of foodborne diseases caused by 31 bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals.

The results will be presented and discussed at a FERG symposium in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on 15-16 December 2015.

Countries will be able to use these estimates to inform national policy development aimed at improving food safety and public health throughout the food chain.

 

The Lancet marks World Antibiotic Awareness Week with series on access and effectiveness of antimicrobials

Infographic on antibiotic resistance and what steps the agriculture sector can take to tackle this global challenge (credit: World Health Organization).

The Lancet yesterday (18 Nov 2015) published a new series titled Antimicrobials: sustainable access and effectiveness in recognition of the World Health Organization’s inaugural World Antibiotic Awareness Week, 16 to 22 November 2015.

The theme of the global campaign, Antibiotics: Handle with Care, reflects the overarching message that antibiotics are a precious resource and should be preserved. They should be used to treat bacterial infections, only when prescribed by a certified health professional. Antibiotics should never be shared and the full course of treatment should be completed – not saved for the future.

The five papers in the Lancet Series cover access to effective antimicrobials as a global challenge, understanding the mechanisms and the drivers of antimicrobial resistance, maximizing access to achieve appropriate human antimicrobial use in low- and middle-income countries, exploring the evidence base for national and regional policy interventions to combat resistance, and international cooperation to improve access to and sustain effectiveness of antimicrobials.

Accompanying the papers are three comments that discuss achieving the balance between sustainable access and sustainable effectiveness of antibiotics, animal production and antimicrobial resistance in the clinic and national action for global gains in tackling the challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

Timothy Robinson, a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is the lead author of the comment titled Animal production and antimicrobial resistance in the clinic. His co-authors are Heiman F.L. Wertheim, Manish Kakkar, Samuel Kariuki, Dengpan Bu and Lance B. Price.

Follow the Twitter conversations at #AntibioticResistance

 

Study calls for One Health approach in continued research on potential role of pigs in Ebola transmission in Uganda

Local breed sow and piglets on a farm in Masaka district, Uganda (photo credit: ILRI/Eliza Smith).

Zoonotic diseases are most dangerous when they take animal and human health workers by surprise, giving the public and disease control officials no advance warning or time to put prevention measures in place. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa illustrates the adverse consequences of trying to tackle a disease outbreak too late and with little information.

Ebola is a serious but mysterious disease; in Uganda, there is little solid information on the reservoir and transmission of Ebola. However, research findings in the last few decades have given rise to speculation that there could be associations between pigs and Ebola.

Currently, there is no evidence that pigs have had any role in past outbreaks of Ebola virus disease. But given the huge importance of pigs to the Ugandan economy, diet and livelihoods, it is important to investigate any potential links sooner rather than later.

A recent study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) argues there are several factors that support the potential role of pigs in the transmission of Ebola to humans in Uganda. It is critical that this hypothesis be investigated in order to understand the risks to the country’s burgeoning pig production industry.

A spatial representation of potential risk factors for zoonotic transmission involving pigs in Uganda could be used to initiate further investigations into Ebola and other zoonotic diseases known to affect pigs in Uganda.

The researchers call for a One Health approach to the continued research. The benefit of this multidisciplinary approach is that limited resources can be utilized efficiently to improve the health and livelihoods of Ugandans through enhanced food safety and security, and the preservation of important ecosystem services, such as those provided by bats and other wildlife.

Clear and consistent risk communication from all research partners will be of utmost importance in preventing hysteria and delivering good outcomes for wildlife conservation and livelihoods.

Download the policy brief, One Health approach recommended in investigating and communicating the potential role of pigs in transmitting Ebola in Uganda written by Eliza Smith of KYEEMA Foundation and Christine Atherstone and Delia Grace of ILRI.

 

Is the empowerment of women livestock keepers the key to improved nutrition? A new study seeks to find out

ILRI policies, instititions and livelihoods program

A woman milking a cow in Tanga, Tanzania (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu)

Written by Alessandra Galie
One of the main goals of gender research in the CGIAR research program on Livestock and Fish is improved nutrition. This is also one of the 4 pillars of the program’s gender strategy and one of the 3 system level outcomes of the CGIAR. Good nutrition in the first 1000 days of a child’s life and for lactating mothers is particularly important for the child’s cerebral and physical development. Good nutrition is therefore considered the basis to improve livelihoods and general well-being. Because higher levels of gender inequality are associated with higher levels of both acute and chronic under nutrition (FAO 2012), gender research in research program focuses on enhancing the empowerment of women livestock keepers and consumers.

Animal source foods (ASF) have been shown to offer enormous potential for nutrition in developing countries…

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Ways forward for food safety in countries bearing the brunt of the world’s food-borne diseases

ILRI news

Roadside meat for sale in Nairobi, Kenya (picture on Flickr by Andrew Chipley).

This article is written by Delia Grace

A new paper on food safety in low- and middle-income countries was published today (27 Aug 2015). The paper is based on a longer learning resource commissioned by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), which will appear shortly. Both publications reflect what the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its partners have learned over the last ten years since adopting a framework of risk analysis for assessing, managing and communicating about food safety in developing countries.

Some conclusions
The evidence indicates that low- and middle-income countries bear the brunt of food-borne disease; that developing-country consumers are concerned about food-borne diseases; that most of the known burden of food-borne disease comes from biological hazards; and that most food-borne disease results from eating contaminated perishable foods sold…

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New study recommends continued research on the possible role pigs could play in transmitting Ebola in Uganda

ILRI news

The map above shows high-risk areas due to a spatial overlap of three proposed risk factors for zoonotic Ebola virus transmission in Uganda: modelled zoonotic niche, domestic pig distribution and high numbers of people living in extreme poverty; the map is taken from a paper published in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Assessing the potential role of pigs in the epidemiology of Ebola virus in Uganda, by C Atherstone, E Smith, P Ochungo, K Roesel, D Grace, 27 August 2015 (figure credit: ILRI).

This article is written by two of this paper’s authors: Christine Atherstone, an ILRI researcher based in Uganda who leads this work and is lead author, and Delia Grace, who leads ILRI’s Food Safety and Zoonoses research program.

A new risk assessment paper, Assessing the potential role of pigs in the epidemiology of the Ebola virus in Uganda, was published in the science journal

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ILRI supports Thailand symposium on food safety, zoonoses and EcoHealth

ILRI Asia

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) recently supported and co-organized a symposium on food safety, zoonoses and EcoHealth in Thailand.

ILRI scientists Fred Unger and Hung Nguyen with Pudji Astuti, Vice Dean, Vet Faculty, University of Gadjah Mada (second from left) and other researchers from the region at the Chiang Mai symposium (Photo credit: ILRI/Duong Van Nhiem).

The fourth Food Safety and Zoonoses Symposium for Asia Pacific, which also included the second Regional EcoHealth Symposium, held 3-5 August 2015 in Chiang Mai, brought together experts to share knowledge and information on food safety and zoonoses and to provide a platform for recent EcoHealth research.

This year’s theme was ‘Professional learning community for human–animal–environmental health’.

The symposium focused on several important themes including assessment of biological and chemical risks in food system, antimicrobial resistance in humans and animals, emergence of zoonoses and vector-borne diseases, innovation in surveillance and epidemiological tools…

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Towards professionalizing—not criminalizing—informal sellers of milk and meat in poor countries

ILRI news

Transporting fresh milk by motorcycle in Tanzania (photo credit: ILRI/Ben Lukuyu).

‘. . . Researchers from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partners have developed and piloted an institutional innovation—a training, certification and branding scheme for informal value chain actors—with good potential to improve the safety of animal-source foods sold in informal markets.

‘Past development policy often focused on formal markets, which at best meant neglect of informal markets and often resulted in harassment and penalties for informal agents.

While in the long term markets are likely to formalize, in the short term, interventions that seek to suppress informal markets can be both ineffective and antipoor.

‘Recent evidence suggests that a more constructive, incentive-based approach to informal markets could improve their contribution to economic development as well as increase compliance with standards in areas such as the environment, public health, and labor.

‘There is a growing recognition of…

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