Background: Rabies remains a major public health problem in low- and middle-income countries. However, human rabies deaths are rarely laboratory-confirmed or sequenced, especially in Africa. Five human rabies deaths from Tanzania and Kenya were investigated and the causative rabies viruses sequenced, with the aim of identifying implications for rabies control at individual, healthcare and societal levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMiddle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is endemic in dromedaries in Africa, but camel-to-human transmission is limited. Sustained 12-month sampling of dromedaries in a Kenya abattoir hub showed biphasic MERS-CoV incidence; peak detections occurred in October 2022 and February 2023. Dromedary-exposed abattoir workers (7/48) had serologic signs of previous MERS-CoV exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenomic data can be used to track the transmission and geographic spread of infectious diseases. However, the sequencing capacity required for genomic surveillance remains limited in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where dog-mediated rabies and/or rabies transmitted by wildlife such as vampire bats pose major public health and economic concerns. We present here a rapid and affordable sample-to-sequence-to-interpretation workflow using nanopore technology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report the draft genome sequences and annotation of three beta-lactamase-producing ( ) strains isolated from fecal samples of healthy camels in Laikipia county, Kenya. This data adds to the online genome resources to support the ongoing antimicrobial resistance surveillance in the livestock-wildlife interface.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Nutrition-sensitive livestock interventions have the potential to improve the nutrition of communities that are dependent on livestock for their livelihoods by increasing the availability and access to animal-source foods. These interventions can also boost household income, improving purchasing power for other foods, as well as enhance determinants of health. However, there is a lack of synthesized empirical evidence of the impact and effect of livestock interventions on diets and human nutritional status in Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe first draft genome of , a gram-negative bacteria isolated from hospitalized patients in Kenya, is presented in this study. The genome was assembled using nanopore MinION readings, yielding an assembly of 8,857,650 base pairs made up of 5(five) contigs. The genome sequence of will help researchers better grasp its genetics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDForganisms are the major cause of bacterial gastroenteritis and diarrhoeal illness in man and livestock. is growingly becoming resistant to critically crucial antibiotics; thereby presenting public health challenge. This study aimed at establishing antimicrobial use, susceptibility profiles, and resistance genes in isolates recovered from chicken, cattle, and cattle-trough water samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Brucellosis is associated with massive livestock production losses and human morbidity worldwide. Efforts to control brucellosis among pastoralist communities are limited by scarce data on the prevalence and risk factors for exposure despite the high human-animal interactions in these communities. This study simultaneously assessed the seroprevalence of brucellosis and associated factors of exposure among pastoralists and their livestock in same households.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: can be transmitted to humans primarily through inhaling contaminated droplets released from infected animals or consumption of contaminated dairy products. Despite its zoonotic nature and the close association pastoralist communities have with their livestock, studies reporting simultaneous assessment of exposure and risk-factors among people and their livestock are scarce.
Objective: This study therefore estimated the seroprevalence of Q-fever and associated risk factors of exposure in people and their livestock.