Background: Zoonoses account for the most commonly reported emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is limited knowledge on how pastoral communities perceive zoonoses in relation to their livelihoods, culture and their wider ecology. This study was carried out to explore local knowledge and perceptions on zoonoses among pastoralists in Tanzania.
Methodology And Principal Findings: This study involved pastoralists in Ngorongoro district in northern Tanzania and Kibaha and Bagamoyo districts in eastern Tanzania. Qualitative methods of focus group discussions, participatory epidemiology and interviews were used. A total of 223 people were involved in the study. Among the pastoralists, there was no specific term in their local language that describes zoonosis. Pastoralists from northern Tanzania possessed a higher understanding on the existence of a number of zoonoses than their eastern districts' counterparts. Understanding of zoonoses could be categorized into two broad groups: a local syndromic framework, whereby specific symptoms of a particular illness in humans concurred with symptoms in animals, and the biomedical framework, where a case definition is supported by diagnostic tests. Some pastoralists understand the possibility of some infections that could cross over to humans from animals but harm from these are generally tolerated and are not considered as threats. A number of social and cultural practices aimed at maintaining specific cultural functions including social cohesion and rites of passage involve animal products, which present zoonotic risk.
Conclusions: These findings show how zoonoses are locally understood, and how epidemiology and biomedicine are shaping pastoralists perceptions to zoonoses. Evidence is needed to understand better the true burden and impact of zoonoses in these communities. More studies are needed that seek to clarify the common understanding of zoonoses that could be used to guide effective and locally relevant interventions. Such studies should consider in their approaches the pastoralists' wider social, cultural and economic set up.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005345 | DOI Listing |
Res Vet Sci
December 2024
Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, 1800 Denison Ave., Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America; Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, 1800 Denison Ave., Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America. Electronic address:
Canine hookworms (Ancylostoma caninum) are highly prevalent in pet dogs in the United States of America (U.S.).
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Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Kutahya Health Sciences University, Kütahya, Turkey.
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One Health Outlook
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Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Animales, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Av. Santa Rosa 11735, Santiago, Chile.
Animals (Basel)
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Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Koserstraße 20, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
The intimate bonds between humans and their pets create favourable conditions that support the mutual transmission of pathogens in either direction. In this context, veterinarians are essential in informing and educating pet owners about health risks linked to zoonotic pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). To effectively convey this information, veterinarians should have strong communication skills.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Vet Med Educ
August 2024
University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine, 2015 S.W. 16th Avenue, Post Office Box 100116, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided insight into the gaps provided by health care systems that could benefit from collaborative practice across the nexus of the animal and human health professions. The platform of Interprofessional Education (IPE), recognized as a pedagogical platform for delivering the principles of One Health, embodies the benefits of collaboration to address critical emerging public health issues, including the emergence of vector-borne zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, food security and defense and the impacts of climatic change. A phenomenological methodology, which is used to understand individuals lived experience, elicited veterinary students' perceptions of the benefits of interprofessional learning.
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