Anthrax bio-surveillance of livestock in Arua District, Uganda, 2017-2018.

Anthrax, caused by Bacillus anthracis, is a widespread zoonotic disease with many human cases, especially in developing countries. Even with its global distribution, anthrax is a neglected disease with scarce information about its actual impact on the community level. Due to the ecological dynamics of anthrax transmission at the wildlife-livestock interface, the Sub-Saharan Africa region becomes a high-risk zone for maintaining and acquiring the disease. In this regard, some subregions of Uganda are endemic to anthrax with regular seasonal trends. However, there is scarce data about anthrax outbreaks in Uganda. Here, we confirmed the presence of B. anthracis in several livestock samples after a suspected anthrax outbreak among livestock and humans in Arua District. Additionally, we explored the potential risk factors of anthrax through a survey within the community kraals. We provide evidence that the most affected livestock species during the Arua outbreak were cattle (86%) compared to the rest of the livestock species present in the area. Moreover, the farmers' education level and the presence of people's anthrax cases were the most critical factors determining the disease's knowledge and awareness. Consequently, the lack of understanding of the ecology of anthrax may contribute to the spread of the infection between livestock and humans, and it is critical to reducing the presence and persistence of the B. anthracis spores in the environment. Finally, we discuss the increasingly recognized necessity to strengthen global capacity using a One Health approach to prevent, detect, control, and respond to public threats in Uganda.

Intake of milk and other dairy products and the risk of bladder cancer: a pooled analysis of 13 cohort studies.

BACKGROUND: Inconsistent associations between milk and other dairy product consumption and bladder cancer (BC) have been reported. We aimed to investigate possible associations with BC risk for total and individual dairy products by bringing together the world's data on this topic. METHODS: Thirteen cohort studies, included in the BLadder cancer Epidemiology and Nutritional Determinants (BLEND) study, provided data for 3590 BC cases and 593,637 non-cases. Associations between milk and other dairy product consumption and BC risk were investigated using Cox proportional hazard regression analyses stratified by study center and adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: Overall, total 'other' dairy product consumption was not associated with BC risk (HR comparing highest with lowest tertile: 0.97 (95% CI: 0.87-1.07; ptrend = 0.52) and likewise no association was observed for either liquid milk, processed milk, cream, cheese or icecream. However, an inverse association was observed between yoghurt consumption and BC risk when comparing those in the moderate (25-85 g/day) and high categories (>85 g/day) with non-consumers, with multivariate HR of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.75-0.96) and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.78-0.98), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence of association between either total or individual dairy products and BC risk, but suggestive evidence that consumption of yoghurt may be associated with a decreased risk.