Brucella sero-prevalence and modifiable risk factors among predisposed cattle keepers and consumers of un-pasteurized milk in Mbarara and Kampala districts, Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease in developing countries yet it is often not recognized, goes unreported and does not attract public health action by these governments including Uganda. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the sero-prevalence and assess modifiable risk factors associated with Brucella seropositivity in cattle keepers and consumers of unpasteurized milk in Uganda. METHODS: One group comprised of 161 individuals randomly selected from households living on farms that had Brucella sero-positive cattle and/or goats in Mbarara District from an earlier survey; the second group comprised of 168 randomly selected individuals attending an HIV voluntary counseling and testing clinic in Kampala District. Sera samples were tested using Rapid Plate Agglutination Test, Standard Tube Agglutination Test and cELISA. RESULTS: The sero-prevalence of brucellosis among exposed cattle keepers in Mbarara and consumers of unpasteurised milk in Kampala Districts was 5.8% (95%CI: 3.3%, 8.3%) and 9% (95%CI: 13.3%, 4.7%), respectively. Consumption of unboiled milk was significantly (p=0.004) associated with seropositivity in Mbarara District. There was no association between sero-positivity with age, sex and awareness of human brucellosis. CONCLUSION: Human brucellosis is prevalent among livestock rearing communities and consumers of unpasteurised milk. The continued consumption of unboiled milk is a major health risk.

Treating cattle to protect people? Impact of footbath insecticide treatment on tsetse density in Chad.

BACKGROUND: In Chad, several species of tsetse flies (Genus: Glossina) transmit African animal trypanosomoses (AAT), which represents a major obstacle to cattle rearing, and sleeping sickness, which impacts public health. After the failure of past interventions to eradicate tsetse, the government of Chad is now looking for other approaches that integrate cost-effective intervention techniques, which can be applied by the stake holders to control tsetse-transmitted trypanosomoses in a sustainable manner. The present study thus attempted to assess the efficacy of restricted application of insecticides to cattle leg extremities using footbaths for controlling Glossina m. submorsitans, G. tachinoides and G. f. fuscipes in southern Chad. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Two sites were included, one close to the historical human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) focus of Moundou and the other to the active foci of Bodo and Moissala. At both sites, a treated and an untreated herd were compared. In the treatment sites, cattle were treated on a regular basis using a formulation of deltamethrin 0.005% (67 to 98 cattle were treated in one of the sites and 88 to 102 in the other one). For each herd, tsetse densities were monthly monitored using 7 biconical traps set along the river and beside the cattle pen from February to December 2009. The impact of footbath treatment on tsetse populations was strong (p < 10(-3)) with a reduction of 80% in total tsetse catches by the end of the 6-month footbath treatment. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The impact of footbath treatment as a vector control tool within an integrated strategy to manage AAT and HAT is discussed in the framework of the "One Health" concept. Like other techniques based on the treatment of cattle, this technology should be used under controlled conditions, in order to avoid the development of insecticide and acaricide resistance in tsetse and tick populations, respectively.

Effects of season and agro-ecological zone on the microbial quality of raw milk along the various levels of the value chain in Uganda.

Dairy production in Uganda is pasture-based and traditional Ankole cattle make up 80% of the cattle herd, reared in both pastoral and agro-pastoral ecological zones. Regardless of the zone, milk quality is lowest in production basin during the dry season when ambient temperatures are highest and water is scarce. Poor hygiene and quality management contributed to the deterioration of raw milk quality during its storage and delivery to the final consumer, and concealed the seasonal effect when milk reached urban consumption areas. Poor milk quality is a challenge for the Ugandan Dairy Development Authorities who wish to make the milk value chain safe. This study provides baseline information for the implementation of an HACCP-based system to ensure the hygienic quality of milk from the farm to the market place.