Neonatal Jaundice: Its Determinants Among Neonates Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units of Tigray Region General Hospitals, Northern Ethiopia.

Background. Despite the significant public health impact of neonatal jaundice on neonatal survival, local epidemiologic data are scarce. Methods. A multi-centered, unmatched case-control study was conducted among 180 consecutively admitted neonates (60 cases and 120 controls). The independent determinants of newborn jaundice were determined using a multivariable binary logistic regression model, and a P-value of <0.05 was used to indicate statistical significance. Results. Maternal medical complications during the index pregnancy (AOR = 2.45; 95% CI 1.01-5.97), rural residence (AOR = 3.1; 95% CI 1.02-9.42), being a low birthweight neonate (AOR = 3.42; 95% CI 1.12-10.41), neonatal B blood group (AOR = 10.19; 95% CI 2.89-35.9), neonatal O blood group (AOR = 2.99; 95% CI 1.04-8.59), and a longer duration of hospital stay (AOR = 9.83; 95% CI 3.11-31.02) were the independent determinants of neonatal jaundice. Conclusions. Early assessment of high-risk neonates might reduce the long-term neurodevelopmental consequences.

Acaricidal efficacy evaluation of amitraz and diazinon against Amblyomma variegatum tick species in Waghimra zone, northern Ethiopia.

Ticks pose a substantial economic burden associated with production loss and treatment costs globally. Ethiopia has tremendous livestock resources, but its productivity is hindered by various animal health challenges in which ticks are the top priority, with a limited response to acaricidal treatments. Hence, we designed an acaricidal efficacy trial for the top commercially available Chemicals (amitraz and diazinon) to examine their efficacy against the widely distributed tick species (Amblyoma variegatum). Ticks were collected from animals admitted to veterinary clinics with no history of treatment with acaricides. Adult Immersion Technique (AIT) was employed to detect acaricidal resistance, and the mean percent control and antiparasitic efficacy were used to estimate tick susceptibility with a completely randomized laboratory-based trial (CRT). The mean weights of eggs laid by ticks subjected to amitraz and diazinon indicated that amitraz had a better egg-laying-inhibition effect than diazinon. The mean control percentages of amitraz and diazinon were 92.8 ± 5.6% and 69.7 ± 3.1%, respectively, with a highly significant difference (P-value = 0.00). The antiparasitic efficacy of the two drugs was 57.5 ± 0.96 and 37.5% ± 0.96 for amitraz and diazinon, respectively, which revealed that amitraz was statistically better than diazinon in killing adult ticks (P-value =0.026). In general, ticks treated with diazinon showed evidence of resistance development, and amitraz is relatively the most effective acaricide; we recommend its use in the study area and other locations with similar settings.

Severity and Determinants of Anemia in TB/HIV Coinfected Adults at Mekelle, Ethiopia: Hospital Based Retrospective Study.

Background: Anemia has up to 87% prevalence in high tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) burden settings of the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) including Ethiopia. It increases lost to follow-up (LTFU) rate, reduces quality of life, and shortens the survival of TB/HIV coinfected patients. However, there is limited information on severity level and determinants of anemia in TB/HIV coinfected adults in the study setting in particular. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess severity level and determinants of TB/HIV-associated anemia. Methods: A hospital based retrospective study was conducted among 305 TB/HIV coinfected adults who enrolled for antiretroviral therapy (ART) from January, 2009 to December, 2016 in two public hospital of Mekelle, Ethiopia, by reviewing ART register. A multiple logit model was fitted to identify the baseline determinants of anemia using 95% confidence level or 5% level of significance for adjusted odds ratio (AOR). Results: In the current study, the cumulative baseline prevalence of anemia was 59.0% (95% CI: 53.3%-64.6%). Considering severity level, the prevalence was 6.2%, 28.2%, and 24.6% for severe, moderate, and mild anemia, respectively. Being female (AOR = 0.380; 95% CI: 0.226-0.640), body mass index (AOR = 0.913; 95% CI: 0.836-0.998) reduces the odds of developing anemia whereas baseline ambulatory functional status (AOR = 2.139; 95% CI: 1.189-3.846), bedridden functional status (AOR = 2.208; 95% CI: 1.002-4.863), HIV clinical stage III (AOR = 2.565; 95% CI: 1.030-6.384), and HIV clinical stage IV (AOR = 2.590; 95% CI: 1.006-6.669) increased the odds of developing anemia for TB/HIV coinfected adults. Conclusions: In the current study, significant TB/HIV-associated severe anemia was assessed which accounted for nearly one-ninth of all anemia cases while nearly half were moderate anemia. Therefore, curious attention has to be given for the management of TB/HIV-associated severe anemia in particular and anemia in general to reducing anemia associated bad outcomes most importantly death.

Contextual Disparity on Trend and Determinants of Optimal Antenatal Care (ANC4+) Use for Women in Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia: Evidence from KA-HDSS Database.

Background: Though optimal antenatal care (ANC4+) use is absolutely critical, only 43% of women had ANC4+ in Ethiopia and nearly 64% in Tigray in 2019. Furthermore, only 20% of women had their first ANC visit during their first trimester in 2016. However, there is no literature on area based disparity of ANC4+ use in Tigray. Therefore, this study is aimed to generate evidence for ANC4+ use using the Kilite-Awlaelo Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KA-HDSS) database. Methods: A population-based longitudinal study was employed on 5,414 women from 12 kebelles included in the KA-HDSS site of Tigray. A pregnancy database was used as a source of data. A Line graph was used to depict the trend of ANC4+ use. A stratified robust Poisson model was fitted to estimate the incidence rate ratio (IRR) for women from rural and urban areas separately. Results: The ANC4+ coverage was 36.3% (95% CI=35.0-37.6%) - 34.2% in rural versus 52.8% urban areas, with an increasing linear trend. Single marital status (IRR=1.29; 95% CI=1.17-1.42); able to read and write (IRR=1.15; 95% CI=1.01-1.32); primary education (IRR=1.22; 95% CI=1.11-1.34); ANC follow-up (2015-2018) (IRR=1.42; 95% CI=1.23-1.64); previous pregnancy exposure (IRR=2.20; 95% CI=1.98-2.45); and having 6+ children (IRR=1.11; 95% CI=1.01-1.21) determined ANC4+ use for rural women. Marital status (Divorced/widowed/separated) (IRR=0.79; 95% CI=0.66-0.95); primary education (IRR=1.44; 95% CI=1.16-1.79); ANC follow-up (2015-2018) (IRR=2.00; 95% CI=1.59-2.50); previous pregnancy exposure (IRR=1.54; 95% CI=1.31-1.80); and having 6+ children (IRR=1.18; 95% CI=1.07-1.31) determined the ANC4+ use for urban women. Conclusion: The optimal ANC coverage is significantly low, with significant disparity by geographical area and increasing trend. However, further efforts have to be made to maximize the optimal use of ANC, particularly for women from rural areas.

Seroepidemiology of peste des petits ruminants virus in small ruminants in selected districts in Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is one of the most severe diseases of small ruminants, causing the loss of millions of dollars annually. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the seroepidemiology of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) in unvaccinated sheep and goats in selected districts in Northwest Ethiopia. OBJECTIVES: The study was designed to investigate the epidemiology of PPRV in unvaccinated sheep and goats and risk factors in the study areas. METHODS: A multi-stage sampling was used to select study districts, villages and households with a random sampling approach. Study animals (403 sheep and goats) older than 5 months were selected with a systematic random sampling approach. From the animals, blood samples were aseptically collected and PPRV antibodies from the serum were analysed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The overall seroprevalence of antibodies to PPRV was 32.5% in both species. It was higher in goats with a prevalence of 34.7% than in sheep (28.3%). District, herd size, sex, animal origin and grazing management were significantly associated with seropositivity of animals to PPRV antibodies. If an animal was from the Dangur district, it had 2.6 times higher chance of being positive than in the Dibati district (OR = 2.6, p = 0.01 and 95% CI = 1.2- 5.6). Herd size was also significantly correlated with the seropositivity with (OR = 4, p = 0.001, and 95% CI = 1.8-9). Also, male animals had 1.7 times higher chance of being positive than females. Further, if an animal comes from the market, it has 2.7 times higher chance of being positive compared to animals born and raised on the farm. CONCLUSIONS: The seropositivity indicates that the disease is circulating in the study areas. Hence, preventive approaches, like vaccination campaigns and strict biosecurity measures, are highly advised to avoid the catastrophic impact of the diseases if an outbreak occurs.

Epidemiological status of bovine cysticercosis and human taeniasis in Eastern Ethiopia.

Bovine cysticercosis and human taeniasis are among the leading cause of economic loss in Ethiopia due to organ condemnation and treatment costs. A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2017 to July 2018 on randomly selected carcasses from Jigjiga, Babile and Dire Dawa town municipal abattoirs to estimate the prevalence of bovine cysticercosis. Besides, a questionnaire was administered to the human population of these towns to understand risk of human taeniasis. The overall prevalence of Cysticercus bovis was 27.3% (302/1108). Among the examined predilection sites, the highest prevalence was observed in the liver (9.6%), and the tongue (8.5%). From the total of 686C. bovis cysts collected, 289 (42.0%) were viable, while the other 397 (58.0%) were non-viable cysts. Three predictors, namely study location, age and body condition, were significantly associated with C. bovis (p ≤ 0.001). Among the 900 respondents interviewed, 432 had contracted Taenia saginata infection. Risk factors like occupation, sex, marital status, educational status and raw beef consumption habit were significantly associated with T. saginata infection (p ≤ 0.001). The findings of this study indicated the importance of bovine cysticercosis and taeniasis in the study areas. Therefore, attention should be given to public awareness and detailed meat inspection for the safety of the public and promotion of the country's meat industry.

Ecological niche modeling predicting the potential distribution of African horse sickness virus from 2020 to 2060.

African horse sickness is a vector-borne, non-contagious and highly infectious disease of equines caused by African horse sickness viruses (AHSv) that mainly affect horses. The occurrence of the disease causes huge economic impacts because of its high fatality rate, trade ban and disease control costs. In the planning of vectors and vector-borne diseases like AHS, the application of Ecological niche models (ENM) used an enormous contribution in precisely delineating the suitable habitats of the vector. We developed an ENM to delineate the global suitability of AHSv based on retrospective outbreak data records from 2005 to 2019. The model was developed in an R software program using the Biomod2 package with an Ensemble modeling technique. Predictive environmental variables like mean diurnal range, mean precipitation of driest month(mm), precipitation seasonality (cv), mean annual maximum temperature (oc), mean annual minimum temperature (oc), mean precipitation of warmest quarter(mm), mean precipitation of coldest quarter (mm), mean annual precipitation (mm), solar radiation (kj /day), elevation/altitude (m), wind speed (m/s) were used to develop the model. From these variables, solar radiation, mean maximum temperature, average annual precipitation, altitude and precipitation seasonality contributed 36.83%, 17.1%, 14.34%, 7.61%, and 6.4%, respectively. The model depicted the sub-Sahara African continent as the most suitable area for the virus. Mainly Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Malawi are African countries identified as highly suitable countries for the virus. Besides, OIE-listed disease-free countries like India, Australia, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia have been found suitable for the virus. This model can be used as an epidemiological tool in planning control and surveillance of diseases nationally or internationally.

Magnitude, trends and determinants of skilled delivery from Kilite-Awlaelo Health Demographic Surveillance System, Northern Ethiopia, 2009- 2017.

BACKGROUND: The fundamental approach to improve maternal and neonatal health is increasing skilled delivery rate. Women giving birth at health institutions can prevent maternal and neonatal deaths by getting skilled birth attendance. In Ethiopia, despite a significant decrease in maternal mortality over the past decade, still a significant number of women give birth at home. Moreover, evidence from population-based longitudinal studies on skilled delivery is limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the magnitude, trend, and determinants of skilled delivery in Kilite-Awlaelo Health Demographic Surveillance System (KA-HDSS), Northern Ethiopia. METHOD: Population-based longitudinal study design was conducted by extracting data for nine consecutive years (2009-2017) from KA-HDSS database. In order to measure the trends of skilled delivery, KA-HDSS data sets were analyzed (2009-2017). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed using STATA version 16. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was fitted to assess determinants of skilled delivery and odds ratio with 95% CI was used to assess presence of associations at a 0.05 level of significance. RESULTS: The skilled delivery rate have continuously increased among reproductive age women from 15.12% (95% CI: 13.30% - 17.09%) in 2010 to 95.85% (95% CI: 94.58% - 96.895%) in 2017. The skilled delivery rate becomes high (> = 82) in the period of 2014-2017. Education, residence, marital status, occupation and antenatal care (ANC) visits were the most important determinants for skilled delivery among reproductive age women during the period of high skilled delivery rate (2014-2017). Women urban dwellers had about 28 times (AOR = 27.66; 95% CI: 3.86-196.97) higher odds to deliver by skilled birth attendants than rural dwellers. Unmarried women who gave birth were 2.18 (AOR: 2.18; 95% CI: 1.30-3.64) times more likely to have skilled delivery service compared to those married. Likewise, women with four or more ANC visits were 3.2 times more likely to undergo skilled delivery service than those having no ANC visits (AOR: 3.16; 95% CI: 2.33-4.28). Moreover, women having at least a secondary education were 2 times more likely to have skilled delivery service compared to those women with no formal education (AOR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.18-3.74). CONCLUSION: Regardless of the importance of health facility delivery, a significant number of women still deliver at home attended by unskilled birth attendants. There has been a substantial increase in use of health facilities for delivery among women in the reproductive age. The factors affecting skilled delivery among reproductive age women were educational level, residence, marital status, occupation and use of ANC service. Maternal health related interventions are needed to change women's attitudes towards skilled delivery. Moreover, ANC coverage should be increased to improve skilled delivery service.

Prevalence of dog-mediated rabies in Ethiopia: a systematic review and Meta-analysis from 2010 to 2020.

BACKGROUND: Ethiopia accommodates the second largest number of human rabies deaths in Africa. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to summarize and pool estimates of dog-mediated rabies status in Ethiopia. METHODS: Published researches between 2010 and 2020 were comprehensively searched and the required information was extracted. The prevalence was estimated using the random-effects meta-analysis because higher heterogeneity between studies was expected. RESULTS: The pooled estimate of rabies was 32% (95% CI: 19-46%), with individual study prevalence estimates ranged from 1 to 78%. Studies were approximately weighted equally with individual weight ranging from 5.19-5.28%. Subgroup analysis indicated that the random pooled prevalence of rabies was 28% (95% CI: 0-81%) in animals and 33% (95% CI: 20-47%) in humans. Furthermore, a subgroup analysis across regions indicated that the pooled prevalence was 78% in Addis Ababa, 46% in Oromia, 40% in Tigray and 5% in Amhara regional states. No single study was reported from the country's eastern and southern parts to be included in this meta-analysis. CONCLUSION: The estimated pooled rabies prevalence was found high and showed varying among study regions. Therefore, focusing on mass dog vaccination campaigns and public awareness should be implemented to control the disease.

Antimicrobial resistance in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence in foods, food handlers, animals, and the environment.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognized as one of the greatest global threats for human and animal health. The present review retrieved up to date information on the epidemiology of AMR in the animal-source food chain in Ethiopia focusing on AMR in bacterial species isolated from food handlers, live animals, foods (animal origin and non-animal origin), and in environmental samples. Accordingly, pooled prevalence of AMR in the different sources was estimated. For data analysis, we used random effect meta-analysis and in order to avoid exclusion of studies with zero prevalence of antimicrobial resistance, Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation was applied. We identified 152 eligible studies and retrieved 4097 data records (183 in food handlers, 2055 in foods, 1040 in live animals and 819 for environmental samples) which together reported a total of 86,813 AMR tests with 64 different antimicrobial disks for 81 bacteria species. We present the pooled prevalence of AMR for major bacterium-antibiotic combination in different sample types. The pooled prevalence of AMR in bacteria from food producing live animals was 20%. High estimates of AMR pooled prevalence were found in bacteria identified from milk, food handlers and the environmental samples with 29%, and 28% in meat. In foods of non-animal origin, the prevalence was lower with 13%. In milk, the highest AMR estimate was found for penicillin (69%) followed by amoxicillin (51%). Regarding multi-drug resistance (MDR), the overall pooled prevalence was 74% among AMR positive samples. Microbes reported having a higher MDR pattern were: Staphylococcus spp. (96%), Salmonella spp. (81%) and Escherichia coli (77%). The present review revealed a high resistance against commonly used drugs for animal and human treatments and/or prophylaxis. In conclusion, the high estimate of prevalence of AMR observed in bacteria recovered from different sample sources related to the animal-source food chain (food, live animal and environment) can highlight the possible linkage among them. The MDR levels in several bacteria species are a clear indication that the threat is directed to many antimicrobials. Our review demonstrated that the high overall AMR resistance levels call for effective policy and intervention measures, which best address the problem along the food chain through a One Health approach.

Human and bovine tuberculosis knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) among cattle owners in Ethiopia.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a re-emerging disease occurring worldwide, resulting in multi-billion-dollar loss and human death annually. The situation is worse in developing countries like Ethiopia, where lower knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of the people is poor about the disease. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess livestock owners' KAP level towards human and bovine Tuberculosis in Gondar, Ethiopia. A total of 349 study participants were addressed through a face-to-face interview. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's chi-squares analysis were used to analyze the data and observe the association between outcome (KAP level) and predictor variables (sociodemographic characteristics). Out of the 349 respondents, 223 (63.9%) were males, while 126 (36.1%) were females. The KAP measuring interview indicated that 97.4% of the participants are aware of human tuberculosis, while only 84 (24.1%) know about bovine tuberculosis cause and mode of transmission. Inhalation was reported as the main route of transmission for human TB (41.1%) whereas, 50% of the respondent mentioned inhalation, contact, and ingestion of raw animal products as the main route of TB transmission from animal to human. Among those who have heard of bovine tuberculosis, only 56 (66.7%) of respondents consider bovine tuberculosis as a significant threat to public health. The study showed there is a lower KAP on bovine TB among cattle owners in the study area. Therefore, community health education about the impact of the disease, transmission, control, and prevention should be integrated with one health-oriented education and research to eradicate the disease from the country.

Global ecological niche modelling of current and future distribution of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRv) with an ensemble modelling algorithm.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious transboundary viral disease of sheep and goats that negatively impacted the farmers and pastoralists' livelihood in Africa and Asia. To overcome the disease's consequences, the OIE and FAO are collaborating efforts to eradicate the disease once and for all. We developed a predictive model that delineates suitable territories for the virus globally in support of this eradication programme. To achieve this, we used an ecological niche modelling with an ensemble algorithm. AUC-ROC curve, true skill statistics (TSS) and Kappa values were used to evaluate the model's performance. A TSS value greater than 0.7 was used to pool outputs of the nine model. The ensemble model has better performance than individual models by every evaluation metrics (Kappa = 0.82, TSS = 0.88 and ROC = 0.99). Annual minimum temperature (24.92%), annual maximum temperature (21.37%), goat density (18.03%) and solar radiation (14.04%) have the highest overall contribution in the ensemble model. The model indicates that India, Mongolia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Angola, Nigeria, DRC, Ghana, Sierra Leon, Southern Spain, France, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Italy, Armenia and Azerbaijan are highly suitable for PPRv. In 2040, suitable territories for PPRv will diminish, indicating the odds are with us in eradicating disease by 2030. We believe that this model can be used as an epidemiological tool to facilitate the global eradication programme of the disease set by the OIE and FAO.

Anthrax in the Amhara regional state of Ethiopia; spatiotemporal analysis and environmental suitability modeling with an ensemble approach.

Anthrax is one of the most neglected tropical disease affecting humans, livestock, and wildlife worldwide. The disease is caused by soil-borne spore-forming bacteria called Bacillus anthracis. A machine learning algorithm with the biomod2 package of R software was used to develop a predictive map for the Amhara regional state of Ethiopia. One hundred twenty-eight georeferenced confirmed outbreak reports of anthrax in livestock and 11 bioclimatic, eight soil characteristics, and three livestock density variables were used to train the model. The algorithm was set to run 3-fold with a total of 27 outputs for the nine selected models. An ensemble model was developed with ROC evaluation metrics set at 0.8. The ensemble model showed an improved performance than the individual models (KAPPA, TSS, and ROC values of 0.86, 0.93, and 0.99, respectively). Variables like annual precipitation (22.51 %), precipitation of warmest quarter (14.17 %), precipitation of wettest month (11.61 %), cattle density (9.67 %), sheep density (6.6 %), annual maximum temperature (6.17 %), altitude/elevation (5.24 %), and sand content (4.83 %) contributed the highest share in the ensemble model. The predicted suitable areas were primarily in the Central and Southern parts of the region. West Gojam and South Gondar zones were found highly suitable; while parts of Waghemira, North Wollo, and South Wollo were not significantly suitable. Besides, East Gojam, North Gondar, and Awi administrative zones were also reasonably suitable to Bacillus anthracis. The study can be used as a basis in the planning of prevention and control approaches of anthrax outbreaks in the region. Administrative zones like West Gojam, South Gondar, Awi, and East Gojam have to be prioritized as a risky-areas in the planning of preventive measures of anthrax in the region.

Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Trypanosoma evansi in Camels in Ethiopia Based on Parasitological Examinations.

Camel trypanosomosis (surra), caused by Trypanosoma evansi , is a life-threatening disease with negative impacts on health, production, and working efficiency of camels in different camel-rearing areas of the world, including Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was carried out from November 2016 to May 2017 to determine the prevalence of camel trypanosomosis (surra) and assess the associated potential risk factors in Dubti and Asayita districts of Afar region, Ethiopia. Blood samples were collected from 200 camels. Wet film and Giemsa-stained blood smears were used for the detection of trypanosomes. Out of 200 examined, 9(4.5%) were positive for Trypanosoma evansi. The higher prevalence of the disease was observed in Dubti (6.97%) than in Asayita (2.63%) districts. Highest infection was observed in the age group >4 years old camels (7.47%), followed by <4 years old camels (1.07%). Previously aborted camels were found at higher risk (P=0.03; OR = 5.11, 95% CI = 1.174-22.317) than camels without an abortion history. There was no statistically significant difference in between body condition categories and herd size of camels with the occurrence of the disease (X 2 = 3.839; P=0.147 and X 2 = 0.718; P=0.698), respectively. The result of the current study revealed that camel trypanosomosis is substantially prevalent in the study area, indicating the need for designing control and prevention strategies.

Prioritization of Economically Important Cattle Diseases Using Participatory Epidemiology Tools in Lalibela, Sekota, and Ziquala Districts of Amhara Region, Northern Ethiopia.

Ethiopia's livestock resource is one of the largest globally. It is estimated at around 59.5 million cattle, about 30.5 million sheep, and 30.2 million goats. The sector is irreplaceable in the means of livelihood of the population as a source of meat, milk, drought power, and income. Yet, the country is unable to exploit the sector entirely because of highly prevalent infectious diseases and lack of appropriate disease control policy. These constraints are worse in districts of Lalibela, Sekota, and Ziquala, where this specific study was carried out. Despite the availability of scanty animal health services in these areas, information on animal health, especially cattle, was never a significant focus of research. This study was conducted with the objectives of identifying and prioritizing primary cattle disease with the aid of participatory epidemiology tools. Focus group discussions (FGD) and questionnaires were used in prioritizing the top economically important cattle diseases of the selected areas. Accordingly, the result of FGD indicated that ectoparasites, CBPP, FMD, blackleg, bloody diarrhea, and pasteurellosis were the major diseases affecting cattle production in the area. These areas can be representative of most of the countries where a mixed farming system is practiced. Therefore, this result can be used as a basis for broader planning of prevention and control strategies for these kinds of diseases. However, a laboratory-supported extensive investigation of these diseases is highly recommended to validate findings of such types of prioritization of diseases.

Bovine cysticercosis in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence from abattoir-based surveys.

Ethiopia is well known for its huge livestock resource that stands number one in Africa and 10th in the world. However, cattle production is constrained by inadequate nutrition, disease, lack of support services and inadequate information. This systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence of C. bovis in Ethiopia aims to provide a national level prevalence of the parasite from reports conducted in different parts of the country. Due to the expected variation between studies, a random-effects meta-analysis was carried out using the total sample size and number of positives (effect size and standard error of the effect size). Individual study prevalence estimates ranged from 0% to 20% with an overall pooled prevalence of 7% (95% CI = 5%-8%). Studies weighted approximately equal with weights on individual studies ranging from 2% to 2.6% due to high heterogeneity between studies. The meta-analysis indicated that between-study variability was high (τ2 = 0.001; heterogeneity I2 = 99.20% with Heterogeneity chi-square = 4974.9 and, an associated p-value of 0.01). This parasite is indicated to be one of the causes of organ condemnation causing losses of million dollars annually in the country.

Assessment of risk factors and isolation of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli from bovine subclinical mastitic milk in and around Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia.

A cross-sectional study with simple random sampling approach was conducted from November 2017 to May 2018 with the objectives of estimating the prevalence of subclinical mastitis with its associated risk factors and to identify and isolate Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli from mastitic milk in and around Gondar town, Ethiopia. The study was conducted on 334 lactating cows selected from 70 smallholder dairy farms. California mastitis test (CMT) and bacteriological culture methods were used as diagnostic tools. From 334 cows examined, 114 (34.1%) and from 1054 quarters examined, 238 (17.8%) were positive for subclinical mastitis using CMT test. Adult and old cows were 3.681 (95% CI = 1.541, 8.788) and 15.044 (95% CI = 3.051, 74.174) times more likely to have a chance of contracting mastitis than young cows respectively. Cow's having 4-7 calving were 88.9% (OR = 0.111, 95% CI = 0.29, 0.423) less likely to have a chance of contracting mastitis than cows having ≤ 3 calving by keeping another factors constant. Mid-lactating cows were 63.4% (OR = 0.366, 95% CI = 0.150, 0.890) less likely to have a chance of contracting mastitis than cows in the early lactation stage. Crossbreed cows were also 79.1% (OR = 0.209, 95% CI = 0.046-0.948) less likely to have a chance of contracting mastitis than local breed cows. The odds of subclinical mastitis were 21.81 (95% CI = 4.618, 103.002) times higher in cows having tick infestation compared to cows without tick infestation and animals kept in good housing were 23% (OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.027, 0.197) less likely to have mastitis than cows kept in poor housing. The likelihood of mastitis occurrence was 3.372 (95% CI = 0.865, 13.141) times higher in cows managed in intensive farming system than semi-intensive farming system. Out of fifty CMT positive milk samples, proportion of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was 17 (34%) and 8 (16%) respectively. As a conclusion, subclinical mastitis is the main important health constraints of dairy cows in the study area. Therefore, management, housing, and environmental sanitation should be improved.

Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Escherichia coli O157:H7 isolated from harvested fish at Lake Hayq and Tekeze dam, Northern Ethiopia.

Fisheries play a significant role in food security, livelihood, and source of income in developing countries. Although fish are a healthy source of protein, they can also spread diseases caused by pathogenic micro-organisms they may harbor. Epidemiology of foodborne pathogens is not well studied in Ethiopia. To address this issue to some extent, a cross-sectional study with a simple random sampling approach was conducted from October 2017 to May 2018 with the objectives of to isolate and estimate the prevalence of Escherichia coli O157: H7 in fish, and to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the isolates in selected Lakes of Northern Ethiopia. All the microbial identification and isolation procedures were conducted based on ISO 6887-3:2017 recommendations. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was also performed following the standard procedure of Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion protocol. From the total 410 fish samples examined, six (1.46%) of them were found contaminated with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157: H7 strain. The organism was isolated from landing sites (5/293) and local retail markets (1/75). Besides, Escherichia coli O157: H7 was isolated from filleted fish (5/214) and whole fish (1/125); however, it was not isolated from samples of ready to eat fish and working environments of restaurants. The antibiotic susceptibility test revealed that the isolates were resistant to Ampicillin and Streptomycin disks. However, Ciprofloxacin, Gentamicin and Nalidixic acid were found effective in inhibiting the growth of all of the isolates. Since pathogenic Escherichia coli strain was detected from fish, raw and undercooked fish consumption in Ethiopia may result in contracting infections. The occurrence of such pathogenic organisms in fish indicates the need for intervention by stakeholders. Supports like freezers, generators, the establishment of fish processing plants and on job training about proper fish handling practices may play a tremendous role in decreasing the level of contamination of fish in Ethiopia.

Leishmaniasis in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence in animals and humans.

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by obligate intracellular protozoa of the genus Leishmania. Ethiopia does not have an overall estimation of prevalence of leishmaniasis infection at a country level. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to summarize and pool estimates of studies that report the prevalence of leishmaniasis in Ethiopia. The literature search was conducted to identify all published studies reporting the prevalence of leishmaniasis with clearly designed inclusion and exclusion criteria. From all screened articles, 30 studies were eligible for final meta-analysis and systematic review. Because substantial heterogeneity was expected, random-effects meta-analyses were carried out using the total sample size and number of positives to estimate the prevalence of the disease at a country level. Between-study variability was high (τ2 = 0.02; heterogeneity I2 = 99.72% with Heterogeneity chi-square = 11985.41, a degree of freedom = 33 and P = 0.001). The overall random pooled prevalence of leishmaniasis was 19% (95% CI 14%-24%). Meta-regression analysis showed that diagnosis method used have contributed to the heterogeneity of studies. Molecular diagnosis has significantly lower prevalence than microscopic examination with a coefficient of -0.32, a p-value of 0.024, and CI (-0.6-0.05). The result of effect estimates against its standard error showed there was no publication bias with a P value of 0.084. This review indicated that there is still a higher prevalence of Leishmaniasis in the country. Reporting on risk factors like sex and age affected, species of Leishmania involved and many more other risk factors reviewing was not possible in this study due to lack of completeness in articles included. However, this report is an indication that the country needs nationally coordinated extensive prevention and control plan to reduce public health and socio-economic impact of the disease.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence of Escherichia coli in foods of animal origin in Ethiopia.

Escherichia coli is one of the causes of gastrointestinal diseases worldwide causing millions of illness annually. The occurrence of Escherichia coli in foods of animal origin in Ethiopia is arguably high due to many reasons like illegal slaughtering of animals in open fields, unhygienic slaughter practices in the abattoirs, and the risk of disease due to this organism is high because of a widespread tradition of raw meat consumption. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to pool estimates of the prevalence of the organism in different foods of animal origin which is the first of its kind in the country. The literature search was conducted to identify all published articles reporting the prevalence of Escherichia coli in foods of animal origin. From all screened articles, 30 studies were eligible for final systematic review and meta-analysis. Because substantial heterogeneity was expected, random-effects meta-analyses were carried out to pool the prevalence of the organism from different foods of animal origin. The result indicated that between-study variability was high (τ2 = 0.00; heterogeneity I2 = 96.77% with Heterogeneity chi-square = 1298.92, a degree of freedom = 42 and a P-value of = 0.001) with the overall random pooled prevalence of 15% (95% CI = 13%-17%) in foods of animal origin. The result of meta-regression showed diagnosis method used, sample size and study year had contributed significantly to the heterogeneity of studies. This systematic review and meta-analysis showed the level of contamination of foods of animal origin in Ethiopia is high indicating the need for immediate planning of mitigation strategies and detection methods to reduce its level and impact throughout the country.