New ILRI report assesses risk of Ebola in Uganda’s pig value chain

Local breed sow and piglets on a farm in Masaka district, Uganda. A new research report assesses the risk of Ebola in the pig value chain in Uganda. (photo credit: ILRI/Eliza Smith).

Scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have published a report of a risk assessment to determine the threat of the deadly Ebola virus in the pig value chain in Uganda.

Uganda is currently witnessing a rise in demand for pork and this has led to increased pig production in the country, mostly under smallholder production systems.

These higher pig populations raised under free-range or tethering systems may create overlap of fruit bat habitats where the pigs scavenge for food, thereby presenting a possible risk of Ebola transmission as some bat species have been identified as reservoir hosts of the Ebola virus.

Uganda has experienced outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in the past. However, there are still many unanswered questions on the ecology and mode of transmission of the Ebola virus.

The risk assessment study, based on a systematic review of literature, identified possible routes of transmission of the Ebola virus if pigs are involved, for example, spread between wild and domestic pigs, direct contact between infected pigs and humans, and contact between pigs and fruit bats.

The study recommends more research on the possible role of pigs in Ebolavirus transmission, an area that is not well understood at the moment.

“The present data suggest that pigs may act as amplifying hosts, but likely not reservoir hosts. This suggests the conditions under which pigs become infected with Ebolavirus and the role they play in transmission may have many variables that will have to be elucidated,” the report states.

Further research is underway to investigate the possible role of domestic pigs in the ecology of Ebola virus in Uganda and understand the public health significance of the virus to the pig value chain in this country.

The work includes laboratory diagnostics from a large sample of blood from domestic pigs collected as part of the initial wider value chain disease assessment.

This will be accompanied by a risk mapping study using spatial epidemiology and key informant surveys as well as some participatory techniques with key stakeholders to better understand risk factors and to serve as a ‘ground-truthing’ exercise for the risk map.

It is hoped that this research will lead to further collaborations with other public health organizations and serve as a potential predictive tool in the event of future outbreaks of Ebola in Uganda.

Access the research report here

Citation
Atherstone C, Roesel K and Grace D. 2014. Ebola risk assessment in the pig value chain in Uganda. ILRI Research Report 34. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

 

New livestock maps pinpoint ‘danger zones’ for possible spread of deadly H7N9 strain of bird flu

ILRI Clippings

Feeding poultry in Bangladesh (photo on Flickr by WorldFish).

A recent paper that maps the global distributions of the world’s major livestock species has already been used to advance understanding of where surveillance efforts should be targeted to prevent the possible spread of a lethal bird flu virus now circulating in poultry populations in China, where it has killed 62 people. The original mapping work, led by Tim Robinson, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and published at the end of May, was immediately put to practical use in locating large regions in South and Southeast Asia that would suit the new lethal virus. Ominously, unlike H5N1, a viral strain of bird flu that has killed millions of poultry and at least 359 humans since its first appearance in 1987, H7N9 does not cause severe illness in the chickens it infects, making it much more difficult to detect, and…

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ILRI scientists present at international conference on building resilience for food and nutrition security

Delia Grace presenting at a side session on ‘Food safety: Options for addressing a growing crisis’ at IFPRI’s 2020 Conference on ‘Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security’ (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan)

On 15-17 May 2014, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) held an international conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on building resilience for food and nutrition security, with over 700 participants in attendance including researchers, policymakers and decision-makers.

Scientists from the Food Safety and Zoonoses program of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) were among the many speakers who presented at parallel sessions and side events.

Delia Grace gave a presentation on food safety in informal markets during a side event on Food safety: Options for addressing a growing crisis. She also spoke on dealing with food safety, nutrition, and public health crises during one of the parallel sessions.

Hung Nguyen-Viet spoke on food-borne diseases and public health shocks in East Asia and the Pacific while Bernard Bett presented on managing impacts from infectious disease outbreaks in dryland areas of East Africa.

More ILRI reports from the conference

Visit the conference website for more information and to access more of the conference resources.

 

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.

 

ILRI joint appointee scientist wins Queen’s University Marty memorial scholarship

ILRI joint appointee scientist Natalie Carter and the son of a smallholder pig farmer in Uganda (photo credit: ILRI/Natalie Carter).

We are pleased to congratulate Natalie Carter, a PhD student at the University of Guelph and joint appointee at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), who has been awarded the 2014 Queen’s University Marty Memorial Scholarship.

She beat 30 highly competitive candidates to win the scholarship that was awarded in recognition of her exemplary research on gender and global development.

In 2013, Carter joined an ILRI-led project on smallholder pig value chains development in Uganda. Her research is focused on appropriate feed options for smallholder pig farmers in Uganda, many of whom are women.

“I am really excited about the scholarship as it will help pay for my university tuition,” said Carter.

“It will also enable me to attend a summer training workshop of the Canadian community of practice in ecosystem approaches to health. The workshop will provide valuable training that I will apply in my research”.

The Marty Memorial Scholarship was established in memory of Dr Aletta Marty and her sister Sophie Marty, a distinguished graduate of Queen’s University. It is awarded annually by the Queen’s University Alumni Association to a woman graduate of Queen’s University for one year of study and research.

 

New article outlines pathway to develop business case for One Health

Livestock farming in the highlands of Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu).

One Health refers to the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment. Although the usefulness of the One Health approach is widely appreciated, thanks to a growing body of evidence, its uptake remains limited and health management is still largely organized by sector.

How, then, can One Health proponents build a compelling business case for it? A new article published in the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research (23 April 2014) may be of help; it outlines a pathway to develop the business case for One Health.

It also identifies five key areas where One Health is likely to make a difference. These are:

1. sharing health resources between the medical and veterinary sectors;
2. controlling zoonotic diseases in animal reservoirs;
3. early detection of and response to emerging diseases;
4. prevention of pandemics; and
5. generating insights and adding value to health research and development.

The literature reviewed suggests that every dollar invested in One Health would yield five dollars worth of benefits. Therefore, increased investment in One Health on a large scale has the potential to transform the management of emerging and neglected zoonotic diseases and save the lives of millions of people and animals.

The article is authored by Delia Grace, veterinary epidemiologist and food safety specialist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). She heads ILRI’s research program on food safety and zoonoses as well as the agriculture-associated diseases theme of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH).

Access the article here

Citation
Grace D. 2014. The business case for One Health. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 81(2), 6 pages.

 

 

ILRI graduate fellow to attend international training course on modelling of epidemiological data

John Muthii Muriuki, ILRI graduate fellow attached to the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa project (photo credit: ILRI/John M. Muriuki).

The South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA) has invited John Muthii Muriuki, a graduate fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), to attend its fifth annual clinic on the meaningful modelling of epidemiological data. The clinic takes place on 2-13 June 2014 at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa.

The highly competitive training course is offered in collaboration with the International Clinics on Infectious Disease Dynamics and Data (ICI3D) program and AIMS. Participants will include graduate students, postdoctoral students and researchers from Africa and North America.

The clinic focuses on the use of data in understanding infectious disease dynamics. Participants will work on epidemiological modelling projects that use real data to grapple with practical questions in a meaningful way.

Muriuki is studying for a Master’s degree in veterinary epidemiology and economics at the University of Nairobi. He was attached to the Kenya team of the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa project that is exploring the drivers of Rift Valley fever in the country and took part in sampling and community surveys in Garissa and Tana River.

He is excited at the opportunity to take part in the clinic and expects to learn more about modelling the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases.

“This clinic could not have come at a better time because I’m now developing a malaria transmission model in an irrigated set-up. Through this training, I expect to get more ideas to refine the model,” said Muriuki.

“I have a lot of interest in epidemiological modelling. The knowledge and skills gained from the clinic will enable me further my research work in this noble area,” he added.

Bernard Bett, a veterinary epidemiologist at ILRI and one of Muriuki’s supervisors, is confident that the training will enable Muriuki to refine the malaria transmission model being developed.

“It will also be a good opportunity for him to build networks with other professionals working on infectious disease research,” said Bett, who also leads the Kenya team of the Dynamic Drivers of Disease project.

 

ILRI publishes three policy briefs on ecohealth approaches to managing zoonoses in Southeast Asia

A live chicken vendor weighs a chicken in Hung Yen province, Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Nguyen Ngoc Huyen).

More than 6 out of 10 human infectious diseases are zoonotic (can be passed from animals to people). Southeast Asia is considered one of the hotspot areas for the emergence of zoonotic diseases. The rapid growth of economies and human populations have led to livestock intensification, land use changes and disruption in wildlife habitats, all of which are ideal for the emergence of zoonotic diseases.

From 2008 to 2013, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) led an action research project on zoonotic diseases in six countries in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Each country team comprised individuals and institutions with knowledge of ecohealth, representing multiple disciplines carrying out research on zoonotic emerging diseases. The project aimed to build ecohealth capacity and learn about the process of adopting the ecohealth approach in the country contexts.

The project has published three new policy briefs that highlight some of the key outcomes on stakeholder engagement processes, raising awareness of zoonotic diseases, and capacity building in One Health and ecohealth in Southeast Asia.

• Engaging stakeholders to manage emerging zoonotic diseases in Southeast Asia
• Increasing awareness of zoonotic diseases among health workers and rural communities in Southeast Asia
• Outcomes in building capacity and strengthening networks: Ecohealth in Southeast Asia

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) funded the project.

Visit the project website for more information

 

ILRI and FAO host meeting of regional food safety experts to strengthen collaboration

Participants at a food safety stakeholder meeting held on 24 February 2014 and hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (photo credit: ILRI/Samuel Mungai).

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) hosted a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya on 24-25 February 2014 to discuss increasing collaboration in the area of food safety. 

The meeting was linked with the recent signing of the memorandum of understanding between CGIAR  and FAO to strengthen ties between the two organizations for translating science to policy.

The first day was attended by over 25 representatives from more than 10 institutions including Kenyan government institutions, academia, international organizations and research institutions.

The representatives shared information regarding the work of their respective institutions in the area of food safety, identified some key areas for support, and provided an open forum to discuss food safety challenges.

During the discussion, ILRI and FAO presented an overview of ongoing or planned activities related to food safety.  Some of the key areas for support outlined by the stakeholders included food safety surveillance, generation of data, capacity building and improving collaboration across the wide range of stakeholders involved in managing food safety at the national level.

The second day was specifically for ILRI and FAO to discuss in detail possible areas for collaboration.  Each organization had outlined a wide range of topics to discuss including:

• multifactorial framework for policy decision-making in food safety;
• food safety risk analysis training opportunities;
• food safety surveillance including early warning and rapid alert systems; and
• practical food safety application in informal markets.

By the end of the meeting, the two organizations agreed on a number of activities that could benefit from joint efforts and for future collaborative work.

FAO representatives also had the opportunity to tour the ILRI campus facilities and discuss food safety issues with other ILRI colleagues outside of the Food Safety and Zoonoses team, including the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub which supports the use of biosciences to address food safety and security challenges in Africa such as aflatoxins.

The two-day meeting was highly successful, with both organizations expressing support for increased collaboration in the area of food safety at global and regional levels.

This meeting is timely given the increasing momentum of food safety globally and in Africa, as evidenced by the proposed development of a food safety coordination mechanism and the generation of the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa under the leadership of the African Union, among numerous other initiatives.

Download the workshop report

 

Farmers in Uganda gain from training in pig production and marketing

Pig production is an important livelihood activity for some 1 million smallholder households in Uganda, given the growing demand for pork in both rural and urban areas.

However, many smallholder pig farmers are constrained by lack of adequate information on animal health, feeding and breeding that can help them improve their pig husbandry and scale up their operations towards commercialized production and greater profits.

Pig Production and Marketing Uganda Limited works with pig farmers – from smallholder to large-scale – to increase productivity and create a reliable market for pig farm produce. The organization also offers technical support to pig farmers in Uganda.

As part of its efforts towards improving pig husbandry in Uganda, the organization held a training workshop on 14-15 February 2014 in Matugga, Wakiso District for some 70 farmers.

The aim of the workshop was to share knowledge on modern pig farming methods and good agricultural practices in pig husbandry. Other topics included feeding, breeding, pig health, management of pig diseases, farm management and record keeping.

Scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) were invited to participate in the workshop as part of the team of facilitators.

Danilo Pezo, coordinator an ILRI project on smallholder pig value chain development in Uganda, gave the opening address. Kristina Roesel, coordinator of the ILRI-led Safe Food, Fair Food project, facilitated a session on pig and pork zoonoses in Uganda.

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The event received media coverage in the Daily Monitor newspaper (Piggery: Farmers urged on best practices, 19 Feb 2014)

Related blog post: Ugandans and pork: A story that needs telling (ILRI News blog, 19 Feb 2014)