Publications by authors named "S Knauf"
In the post-COVID-19 era, stakeholders, including policymakers, funders, and the public, are increasingly seeking for a cross-sectoral systems-based approach to health risks extending beyond conventional measures. Anchored on three health pillars -human, animal, and environmental- One Health offers a promising framework to effectively address this demand. While some nations have already implemented national One Health strategic plans, European countries, in general, are lagging behind the global agenda.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To meet the WHO target of eradicating yaws by 2030, highly sensitive and specific diagnostic tools are needed. A multiplex Treponema pallidum-Haemophilus ducreyi loop-mediated isothermal amplification (TPHD-LAMP) test holds promise as a near-patient diagnostic tool for yaws and H ducreyi. We conducted a prospective evaluation in Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and the Republic of the Congo to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the TPHD-LAMP test, as well as to assess its acceptability, feasibility, and cost.
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- Integrated approaches to mapping skin Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) may optimize resource allocation, but extensive data covering multiple endemic countries was previously lacking.
- Between March 2021 and March 2023, integrated case searches were conducted in Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ghana, screening over 61,000 individuals for various skin conditions including yaws and other NTDs.
- The findings revealed that 18.6% of those screened had skin lesions, with the majority being children; yaws was confirmed in a varying proportion of cases across the three countries, while scabies and fungal infections were the most commonly diagnosed conditions.
Article Synopsis
- The study identifies two types of treponemes infecting lagomorphs: Treponema paraluisleporidarum ecovar Cuniculus (TPeC), affecting rabbits, and ecovar Lepus (TPeL), affecting hares, with a focus on the complete genome sequence of TPeL from a mountain hare in Sweden.
- Researchers successfully sequenced nearly the entire genome of TPeL, revealing similarities and differences between TPeL and TPeC, including notable gene variations that could influence how these pathogens adapt to their hosts.
- Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the TPeL isolate from the European brown hare is more distantly related to TPeC than the other TPeL
The present study investigated the seropositivity rate of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) in domestic and working animals in Namibia, which included dogs, cats, horses, and donkeys. HEV poses a growing threat as a significant cause of human hepatitis globally and has several genotypes of varying zoonotic potential. As epidemiological data on the seroprevalence of HEV in Namibia is scarce, a serosurvey was conducted on archived serum samples of 374 dogs, 238 cats, 98 horses, and 60 donkeys collected between 2018 and 2022 from different regions, to assess the potential of these animals as sources of HEV infection.
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