A batch of young goats for slaughter and export of chilled meat, Hargeisa Market, Somaliland (photo credit: Terra Nuova).
Overview
Rift Valley fever, brucellosis and Q fever cause serious illnesses in humans and are associated with extensive socio-economic losses in livestock. These diseases are prevalent in pastoral areas of Kenya and are among the country’s top 10 priority zoonoses. In people, the diseases cause intermittent fever, joint and muscle pain, fatigue and in some cases neurological disorders. In livestock, they cause abortions, still births, birth of underweight foetuses and infertility. The agents that cause Rift Valley fever, brucellosis and Q fever are some of the most threatening to human and animal health.
Objectives and activities
Disease risk mapping: Refining the Rift Valley fever risk map and developing new risk maps for brucellosis and Q fever
The project will collate stored livestock, wildlife and human serum samples from institutions in the country and screen them for Rift Valley fever virus and Brucella spp. and Coxiella burnetii bacteria using respective enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results will be used to develop risk maps for the three diseases in the country. The maps will also be used to identify areas where ecological niches for the three diseases overlap.
Estimation of the human and animal health burden associated with these diseases
Active surveillance for human, livestock and wildlife syndromes associated with these diseases will be carried out in the target counties to determine health and socio-economic burden of these infections. A clinical case definition will be used to identify relevant cases for laboratory screening.
Analysis of stored samples: Identifying strains of prevalent disease pathogens
Samples collected from active surveillance work will be analysed to identify strains of the selected pathogens and determine their association with the severity of diseases they cause, especially in people. These analyses will also map transmission patterns of the pathogens between humans, livestock and wildlife.
Staff training: Building capacity for better approaches for disease control
Animal and human health workers, researchers and staff from the Ministry of Health and the Department of Veterinary Services in the target counties will be trained in biosafety and biosecurity practices, laboratory procedures, metagenomics and phytogenetic analysis, syndromic surveillance and risk mapping. Training will also focus on One Health surveillance approaches to improve the knowledge and capacity of One Health partnerships for better control of these and other diseases of security concern.
The project will have a communication plan that supports the dissemination of data and knowledge generated to various stakeholders throughout its implementation period.
Start date: 1 September 2019 | End date: 31 August 2022
Partners
Kenya Medical Research Institute
Kenya Wildlife Service
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation, Kenya
Ministry of Health, Kenya
Washington State University
Funder
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Contact
Bernard Bett (b.bett@cgiar.org)
AgHealth 