Publications by authors named "S M Thumbi"
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.
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- Strengthening global health security requires effective vaccines and treatments against infectious diseases, with Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists showing potential to enhance immune responses.
- A systematic review of 653 studies identified 51 relevant studies, revealing that 82% focused on TLR agonists as vaccine adjuvants, while 18% explored them as therapeutic agents, with a strong emphasis on their effectiveness in stimulating immune responses in animals.
- Although TLR agonists proved effective, only a few studies assessed their safety, highlighting the need for comprehensive safety evaluations before further clinical applications in animals.
Introduction: Explanatory models of disease focus on individuals' and groups' understandings of diseases, revealing a disconnect between livestock keepers and animal health providers. Animal health providers rely on models grounded in their veterinary training and experience. At the same time, livestock keepers may construct models based on traditional knowledge and their lived experience with East Coast fever in their cattle herds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRabies, a viral disease that causes lethal encephalitis, kills ≈59,000 persons worldwide annually, despite availability of effective countermeasures. Rabies is endemic in Kenya and is mainly transmitted to humans through bites from rabid domestic dogs. We analyzed 164 brain stems collected from rabid animals in western and eastern Kenya and evaluated the phylogenetic relationships of rabies virus (RABV) from the 2 regions.
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- The article provides an overview of animal health surveillance in Kenya from 1944 to 2024, combining historical documents and literature to analyze its development and challenges.
- Key milestones include the establishment of the Directorate of Veterinary Services in 1895, mandatory disease control efforts beginning in 1944, and the transition towards electronic surveillance since 2003.
- While strengths of the system include a solid legislative framework and use of technology, weaknesses involve poor implementation of strategies, lack of standard definitions for diseases, and inadequate resources for effective surveillance.