New study identifies factors affecting spread of brucellosis in humans and livestock in northeastern Kenya

Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease that affects wildlife and livestock. People may get exposed to the disease through direct contact with an infected animal or consumption of raw or undercooked animal products. In humans, the disease is characterized by prolonged fever, body aches, joint pains and weakness, while in livestock, it mainly causes abortions and infertility. 

A study carried out in Garissa and Tana River counties of Kenya set out to identify the factors that affect the spread of brucellosis in people and livestock. Livestock and people from randomly selected households were recruited and serum samples were obtained and screened for Brucella antibodies to determine the level of exposure to Brucella spp. 

The study found that the chances of exposure to brucellosis in humans were at least three times higher in households that had at least one Brucella-seropositive animal compared to those that had none. 

This finding can be used to design risk-based surveillance systems for brucellosis, based on the locations of the primary cases of the disease, where each case of Brucella infection identified in livestock could signal potential locations of additional brucellosis cases in humans, and vice versa.

Citation

Kairu-Wanyoike, S., Nyamwaya, D., Wainaina, M., Lindahl, J., Ontiri, E., Bukachi, S., Njeru, I., Karanja, J., Sang, R., Grace, D. and Bett, B. 2019. Positive association between Brucella spp. seroprevalences in livestock and humans from a cross-sectional study in Garissa and Tana River Counties, Kenya. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13(10): e0007506.

Photo credit: Boran women with sheep and goats at a traditional deep well water source, Garba Tulla, Isiolo, Kenya (ILRI/Fiona Flintan)

 

Brucellosis in ruminants in two counties of Yunnan, China and the use of an integrated approach for effective control

Brucellosis (undulant fever) is a zoonotic disease of growing  public health concern in many Asian countries. Challenges in controlling the disease include lack of collaboration between sectors and uncontrolled animal movement.

In China, Yunnan Province is at particular risk as ruminants are increasingly introduced to the province from other parts of the country in response to increasing demand for milk.

To better control the disease, new approaches are needed to support cross-sector collaboration in China’s animal health control system.

The transdisciplinary ‘ecohealth’ approach to prevention and control of zoonoses was used in an International Livestock Research Institute-led project, Ecosystem approaches to the better management of zoonotic emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia.

The project’s findings on the ecohealth approach to control of brucellosis in Yunnan were presented at this year’s Tropentag conference which took place in Vienna, Austria on 19-21 September 2016.

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Edited by Tezira Lore

 

ILRI postdoctoral scientist awarded TWAS-DFG cooperation visit to Germany

Joseph Erume, a researcher at Makerere University, has been awarded a three-month cooperation visit to the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) in Jena, Germany starting June 2014.

Through this visit, he will continue his research work on seroprevalence and molecular characterization of Brucella suis in pigs in central Uganda which he started under the Safe Food, Fair Food and Smallholder Pig Value Chains Development projects.

Erume’s academic background in microbiology and swine health placed him in an excellent position to contribute to these projects during his research fellowship at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

His work was supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) through an in-region postdoctoral fellowship by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

The cooperation visit will also provide the opportunity to discuss research collaboration with German scientists, possibly including some preliminary experiments, with the ultimate goal of developing longer-term collaboration through other DFG programs.

The cooperation visit program of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) provides postdoctoral researchers from sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) with the opportunity to make a three-month cooperation visit to a research institute in Germany.

We congratulate Erume on the successful application for this prestigious award and the placement at FLI Institute of Bacterial Infections and Zoonoses which also hosts the World Organization for Animal Health and national reference laboratory for porcine brucellosis.

Erume’s application was supported by ILRI scientists Danilo Pezo, Delia Grace, Fred Unger and Kristina Roesel.