Lowland grazing and Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak in Kween district, Eastern Uganda.

Background: Uganda is one of the few countries in Africa that has been experiencing outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, Marburg and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic fevers. In 2017 Uganda experienced a Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak with case fatality rate of 100% in Kween district. Although hunting for wild meat was linked to the MVD outbreak in Kween district, less was reported on the land use changes, especially the changing animal grazing practices in Kween district.

Rift Valley fever seroprevalence and abortion frequency among livestock of Kisoro district, South Western Uganda (2016): a prerequisite for zoonotic infection.

Background: Rift Valley fever (RVF) is classified as viral hemorrhagic fever and is endemic in East and West Africa. RVF is caused by an arthropod borne virus (RVFV); the disease is zoonotic and affects human, animal health as well as international trade. In livestock it causes abortions, while human infection occurs through close contact with infected animals or animal products.

Assessing short evolution brucellosis in a highly brucella endemic cattle keeping population of Western Uganda: a complementary use of Rose Bengal test and IgM rapid diagnostic test.

Background: Brucellosis is a worldwide and zoonotic disease often sadly misdiagnosed in endemic areas. Challenges of availability and accessibility of diagnostic tools are common in resource constrained populations where the most vulnerable are found, surveillance and diagnosis are limited too.

Methods: A cross-sectional study using a simple two stage cluster sampling method was conducted to measure short evolution brucellosis burden among cattle keeping households that are one of the highest risk populations to be exposed to Brucella infection.