Livestock abortion surveillance in Tanzania reveals disease priorities and importance of timely collection of vaginal swab samples for attribution.

Lack of data on the aetiology of livestock diseases constrains effective interventions to improve livelihoods, food security and public health. Livestock abortion is an important disease syndrome affecting productivity and public health. Several pathogens are associated with livestock abortions but across Africa surveillance data rarely include information from abortions, little is known about aetiology and impacts, and data are not available to inform interventions.

Field vaccination of locally-owned cattle against malignant catarrhal fever under environmentally challenging conditions in Tanzania.

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF), caused by alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 (AIHV-1) transmitted from wildebeest, is a lethal cattle disease with significant impacts on East African pastoralists. Development of a live attenuated MCF vaccine has prompted research into its use in communities at risk. This study reports results from the first utilisation of the MCF vaccine in locally-owned cattle under field conditions.

Reducing spatial heterogeneity in coverage improves the effectiveness of dog vaccination against rabies.

Vaccination programs are the mainstay of control for many infectious diseases. Heterogeneous coverage is hypothesised to reduce vaccination effectiveness, but this impact has not been quantified in real systems. We address this gap using fine-scale data from two decades of rabies contact tracing and dog vaccination campaigns in Serengeti district, Tanzania.

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Seroprevalence in Human and Livestock Populations, Northern Tanzania.

We conducted a cross-sectional study of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) in northern Tanzania. CCHFV seroprevalence in humans and ruminant livestock was high, as were spatial heterogeneity levels. CCHFV could represent an unrecognized human health risk in this region and should be included as a differential diagnosis for febrile illness.

Testing novel facial recognition technology to identify dogs during vaccination campaigns.

A lack of methods to identify individual animals can be a barrier to zoonoses control. We developed and field-tested facial recognition technology for a mobile phone application to identify dogs, which we used to assess vaccination coverage against rabies in rural Tanzania. Dogs were vaccinated, registered using the application, and microchipped.

Evaluation of an iELISA for detection and quantification of rabies antibodies in domestic dog sera.

Many rabies endemic-countries have recognized rabies as a public health problem that can be eliminated. As a result, some countries have started implementing small-scale vaccination programs with the aim of scaling them up. Post-vaccination serological monitoring is crucial to assess the efficacy of these programs.

Integrating a community-based continuous mass dog vaccination delivery strategy into the veterinary system of Tanzania: A process evaluation using normalization process theory.

Abstract: Sustained vaccination coverage of domestic dog populations can interrupt rabies transmission. However, challenges remain including low dog owner participation, high operational costs associated with current (centralized and annually delivered (pulse)) approaches and high dog population turnover. To address these challenges an alternative (community-based continuous mass dog vaccination (CBC-MDV)) approach was designed.

Participation in mass dog vaccination campaigns in Tanzania: Benefits of community engagement.

Background: Canine rabies causes about 59,000 human deaths each year globally but the disease can be eliminated by sustaining sufficient dog vaccination coverage over several consecutive years. A challenge to achieving high coverage is low participation of dog owners in vaccination campaigns. We explored whether and how previously identified contributory factors to low participation can be addressed through community engagement activities.

Development, feasibility and potential effectiveness of community-based continuous mass dog vaccination delivery strategies: Lessons for optimization and replication.

Objectives: Dog vaccination can eliminate rabies in dogs, but annual delivery strategies do not sustain vaccination coverage between campaigns. We describe the development of a community-based continuous mass dog vaccination (CBC-MDV) approach designed to improve and maintain vaccination coverage in Tanzania and examine the feasibility of delivering this approach as well as lessons for its optimization.

Methods: We developed three delivery strategies of CBC-MDV and tested them against the current annual vaccination strategy following the UK Medical Research Council's guidance: i) developing an evidence-based theoretical framework of intervention pathways and ii) piloting to test feasibility and inform optimization.

An outbreak of Rift Valley fever among peri-urban dairy cattle in northern Tanzania.

Background: Human and animal cases of Rift Valley fever (RVF) are typically only reported during large outbreaks. The occurrence of RVF cases that go undetected by national surveillance systems in the period between these outbreaks is considered likely. The last reported cases of RVF in Tanzania occurred during a large outbreak in 2007-2008.

Prospective cohort study reveals unexpected aetiologies of livestock abortion in northern Tanzania.

Livestock abortion is an important cause of productivity losses worldwide and many infectious causes of abortion are zoonotic pathogens that impact on human health. Little is known about the relative importance of infectious causes of livestock abortion in Africa, including in subsistence farming communities that are critically dependent on livestock for food, income, and wellbeing. We conducted a prospective cohort study of livestock abortion, supported by cross-sectional serosurveillance, to determine aetiologies of livestock abortions in livestock in Tanzania.

Development of Dog Vaccination Strategies to Maintain Herd Immunity against Rabies.

Human rabies can be prevented through mass dog vaccination campaigns; however, in rabies endemic countries, pulsed central point campaigns do not always achieve the recommended coverage of 70%. This study describes the development of a novel approach to sustain high coverage based on decentralized and continuous vaccination delivery. A rabies vaccination campaign was conducted across 12 wards in the Mara region, Tanzania to test this approach.

"Using the same hand": The complex local perceptions of integrated one health based interventions in East Africa.

Background: Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) such as soil transmitted helminths (STH) and human rabies represent a significant burden to health in East Africa. Control and elimination remains extremely challenging, particularly in remote communities. Novel approaches, such as One Health based integrated interventions, are gaining prominence, yet there is more to be learned about the ways in which social determinants affect such programmes.

": The Complex Narratives of Livestock Care in Northern Tanzania.

Endemic zoonoses have important impacts for livestock-dependent households in East Africa. In these communities, people's health and livelihoods are severely affected by livestock disease losses. Understanding how livestock keepers undertake remedial actions for livestock illness has the potential for widespread benefits such as improving health interventions.

Human rabies: prospects for elimination.

Almost half of all countries in the world are effectively free of human deaths from dog-mediated rabies. But the disease still affects people in low- and middle-income countries, especially the rural poor, and children. Successful regional elimination of human rabies is attributable to advances in significant and sustained investment in dog vaccination, post-exposure vaccination and surveillance, illustrated by productive efforts to reduce human rabies in Latin America over the last 35 years.

Investigating the Efficacy of a Canine Rabies Vaccine Following Storage Outside of the Cold-Chain in a Passive Cooling Device.

Thermostable vaccines greatly improved the reach and impact of large-scale programmes to eliminate infectious diseases such as smallpox, polio, and rinderpest. A study from 2015 demonstrated that the potency of the Nobivac Rabies vaccine was not impacted following experimental storage at 30°C for 3 months. Whether the vaccine would remain efficacious following storage under more natural, fluctuating temperature conditions remains unknown.

Use of lay vaccinators in animal vaccination programmes: A scoping review.

Background: The human resource gap in veterinary sectors, particularly in low-income countries, imposes limitations on the delivery of animal healthcare in hard-to-reach populations. Lay animal health workers have been deployed in these settings to fill the gap though there are mixed views about the benefits of doing this and whether they can deliver services safely. We mapped evidence on the nature and extent of roles assigned to lay animal vaccinators, and identified lessons useful for their future deployment.

Controlling Human Rabies: The Development of an Effective, Inexpensive and Locally Made Passive Cooling Device for Storing Thermotolerant Animal Rabies Vaccines.

Thermotolerant vaccines greatly improved the reach and impact of large-scale vaccination programs to eliminate diseases such as smallpox, polio and rinderpest. A recent study demonstrated that the potency of the Nobivac Canine Rabies vaccine was not impacted following experimental storage at 30 °C for three months. We conducted a study to develop a passive cooling device (PCD) that could store thermotolerant vaccines under fluctuating subambient temperatures.

Author Correction: Evidence for Human Streptococcus pneumoniae in wild and captive chimpanzees: A potential threat to wild populations.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Enhancing livestock vaccination decision-making through rapid diagnostic testing.

•Compared to vaccination, the collective approach to diagnostic testing presents a low-fixed cost.•Existing household livestock-health behaviors increase the likelihood for uptake of preventative health practices.•Initial evidence to support household investments in livestock preventative health over therapeutic treatments.

One Health in Practice: Using Integrated Bite Case Management to Increase Detection of Rabid Animals in Tanzania.

Rabies is a neglected zoonotic disease that causes an estimated 59,000 human deaths worldwide annually, mostly in Africa and Asia. A target of zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies has been set for 2030, and large-scale control programs are now advocated. However, in most low-income endemic countries surveillance to guide rabies control is weak and few cases of rabies are recorded.

The Sero-epidemiology of in Cattle in Northern Tanzania.

is a protozoan intracellular parasite of animals with a global distribution. Dogs act as definitive hosts, with infection in cattle leading to reproductive losses. Neosporosis can be a major source of income loss for livestock keepers, but its impacts in sub-Saharan Africa are mostly unknown.