Potential risk of regional disease spread in west Africa through cross-border cattle trade

Transboundary animal movements facilitate the spread of pathogens across large distances. Cross-border cattle trade is of economic and cultural importance in West Africa. This study explores the potential disease risk resulting from large-scale, cross-border cattle trade between Togo, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria for the first time.; A questionnaire-based survey of livestock movements of 226 cattle traders was conducted in the 9 biggest cattle markets of northern Togo in February-March 2012. More than half of the traders (53.5%) operated in at least one other country. Animal flows were stochastically simulated based on reported movements and the risk of regional disease spread assessed. More than three quarters (79.2%, range: 78.1-80.0%) of cattle flowing into the market system originated from other countries. Through the cattle market system of northern Togo, non-neighbouring countries were connected via potential routes for disease spread. Even for diseases with low transmissibility and low prevalence in a given country, there was a high risk of disease introduction into other countries.; By stochastically simulating data collected by interviewing cattle traders in northern Togo, this study identifies potential risks for regional disease spread in West Africa through cross-border cattle trade. The findings highlight that surveillance for emerging infectious diseases as well as control activities targeting endemic diseases in West Africa are likely to be ineffective if only conducted at a national level. A regional approach to disease surveillance, prevention and control is essential

Seroprevalences and local variation of human and livestock brucellosis in two villages in Gharbia Governorate, Egypt

This study aimed at assessing the epidemiology of brucellosis among both human and livestock populations in an endemic area in Egypt. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two villages, where 616 inhabitants (aged 3-75 years) and 350 livestock of 97 households were enrolled. Sera were tested for Brucella spp. antibodies by tube agglutination test for both populations. Proportions of seropositive sera were 0.0 and 1.7% among the inhabitants, and 0.0 and 16% among livestock of villages I and II, respectively. Calculated seroprevalences considering the clustering of brucellosis within households were 0.03 for people and 5.2 for livestock in village II. The village variable (P = 0.07) and keeping sheep in the household (P = 0.01) were significant risk factors for human brucellosis, whereas only the village was significant for livestock (P < 0.001). Sheep showed the highest seropositive proportions of brucellosis among livestock. No association could be detected between human and livestock brucellosis. In conclusion, we found local variation of seroprevalences of brucellosis among human and livestock in the two surveyed villages. Further epidemiological studies have to be conducted in randomly selected governorates, not only to confirm the low seroprevelance of human brucellosis, but also to assess the risk factors of livestock infection for terms of prophylaxi

Representative Seroprevalences of Brucellosis in Humans and Livestock in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan reported 77.5 new human brucellosis cases per 100,000 people in 2007, which is one of the highest incidences worldwide. In Kyrgyzstan, the currently used diagnostic tests in humans and animals are the Rose Bengal Test and the Huddleson test. A national representative cross-sectional study using cluster sampling proportional to size in humans, cattle, sheep, and goats was undertaken to assess the apparent seroprevalence in humans and animals. A total of 4,936 livestock sera and 1,774 human sera were tested in Naryn, Chuy, and Osh Oblasts. The overall apparent seroprevalences of brucellosis were 8.8% in humans (95% CI 4.5-16.5), 2.8% (95% CI 1.6-4.9%) in cattle, 3.3% (95% CI 1.5-6.9%) in sheep, and 2.5% (95% CI 1.4-4.5%) in goats. Naryn Oblast had the highest seroprevalences in humans and sheep. More men than women were seropositive (OR=1.96; P<0.001). Human seroprevalence was significantly associated with small ruminant seroprevalence but not with cattle seroprevalence. Annual incidence of human brucellosis exposure, measured by serological tests, was more than ten times higher than the annual incidence of reported clinical brucellosis cases. This indicates an under-reporting of human brucellosis cases, even if only a fraction of seropositive people have clinical symptoms. In conclusion, this study confirms the high seroprevalence of brucellosis in Kyrgyzstan and warrants rapid effective intervention, among others, by mass vaccination of sheep and goats but also of cattl

Zoonotic Transmission of Tuberculosis Between Pastoralists and Their Livestock in South-East Ethiopia

Despite huge global efforts in tuberculosis (TB) control, pastoral areas remain under-investigated. During two years sputum and fine needle aspirate (FNA) specimens were collected from 260 Ethiopian pastoralists of Oromia and Somali Regional States with suspected pulmonary TB and from 32 cases with suspected TB lymphadenitis. In parallel, 207 suspected tuberculous lesions were collected from cattle, camels and goats at abattoirs. All specimens were processed and cultured for mycobacteria; samples with acid-fast stained bacilli (AFB) were further characterized by molecular methods including genus and deletion typing as well as spoligotyping. Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) were sequenced at the 16S rDNA locus. Culturing of AFB from human sputum and FNA samples gave a yield of 174 (67%) and 9 (28%) isolates, respectively. Molecular typing was performed on 173 of these isolates and 160 were confirmed as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, three as M. bovis, and the remaining 10 were typed as NTMs. Similarly, 48 AFB isolates (23%) yielded from tuberculous lesions of livestock, of which 39 were molecular typed, including 24 M. bovis and 4 NTMs from cattle, 1 M. tuberculosis and 1 NTM from camels and 9 NTMs from goats. Isolation of M. bovis from humans and M. tuberculosis from livestock suggests transmission between livestock and humans in the pastoral areas of South-East Ethiopi

Global burden of human brucellosis : a systematic review of disease frequency

BACKGROUND: This report presents a systematic review of scientific literature published between 1990-2010 relating to the frequency of human brucellosis, commissioned by WHO. The objectives were to identify high quality disease incidence data to complement existing knowledge of the global disease burden and, ultimately, to contribute towards the calculation of a Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) estimate for brucellosis.METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Thirty three databases were searched, identifying 2,385 articles relating to human brucellosis. Based on strict screening criteria, 60 studies were selected for quality assessment, of which only 29 were of sufficient quality for data analysis. Data were only available from 15 countries in the regions of Northern Africa and Middle East, Western Europe, Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central Asia. Half of the studies presented incidence data, six of which were longitudinal prospective studies, and half presented seroprevalence data which were converted to incidence rates. Brucellosis incidence varied widely between, and within, countries. Although study biases cannot be ruled out, demographic, occupational, and socioeconomic factors likely play a role. Aggregated data at national or regional levels do not capture these complexities of disease dynamics and, consequently, at-risk populations or areas may be overlooked. In many brucellosis-endemic countries, health systems are weak and passively-acquired official data underestimate the true disease burden.CONCLUSIONS: High quality research is essential for an accurate assessment of disease burden, particularly in Eastern Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Central and South America and Africa where data are lacking. Providing formal epidemiological and statistical training to researchers is essential for improving study quality. An integrated approach to disease surveillance involving both human health and veterinary services would allow a better understand of disease dynamics at the animal-human interface, as well as a more cost-effective utilisation of resources

Chapitre 30 - Recherche transdisciplinaire et One Health

Introduction One Health soulève des questions qui vont au-delà de la vision étroite des améliorations sanitaires reposant sur des interventions médicales : ses activités doivent être comprises dans un contexte de changements socio-écologiques à l’échelle locale et mondiale, où les résultats sont moins certains (Zinsstag et al., 2011b). Nous avons besoin d’un éventail de disciplines pour comprendre le contexte de la santé (Allote..

Chapitre 10 - Conception d’études One Health

Qu’est-ce qu’une étude One Health ? Les études épidémiologiques sur la santé humaine et animale utilisent des enquêtes sur le terrain ou des analyses de données secondaires. La collecte et l’interprétation des données se font traditionnellement dans les secteurs de la santé animale et humaine et à des périodes différentes, mais aussi lorsque le même sujet de santé est abordé, ce qui entraîne une duplication inutile des études su..

One Health: the added value of integrated health approaches

The One Health concept of combined veterinary and human health continues to gain momentum, but the supporting literature is sparse. In this book, the origins of the concept are examined and practical content on methodological tools, data gathering, monitoring techniques, study designs, and mathematical models is included. Zoonotic diseases, with discussions of diseases of wildlife, farm animals, domestic pets and humans, and real-world issues such as sanitation, economics, food security and evaluating the success of vaccination programmes are covered in detail. Discussing how to put policy into practice, and with case studies throughout, this book combines research and practice in one broad-ranging volume

Human and Animal Vaccination Delivery to Remote Nomadic Families, Chad

Vaccinating nomadic pastoralists and their livestock at the same time reduces delivery costs

Chapitre 5 - Mesurer la valeur ajoutée à partir des méthodes intégrées

Introduction Dans le chapitre 2, nous avons proposé une définition pratique de One Health comme valeur ajoutée en termes de santé humaine et animale, d’économies financières ou de services environnementaux, ce qui est possible en faisant coopérer les médecines humaine et vétérinaire comme deux médecines fonctionnant de façon unique (chap. 2). La coopération entre les différentes disciplines devrait conduire à une valeur ajoutée ..