ABSTRACT
Aims: Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a chronic infectious and contagious zoonotic disease of domestic, wild animals and humans. The disease occurs in a wide range of mammalian species and therefore, poses a public health threat. It also results in considerable economic losses in livestock production and carcass condemnation of infected cattle during meat inspection. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence of zoonotic bovine tuberculosis in slaughtered cattle, based on Post-Mortem (PM) meat inspection, Ziehl-Neelsen staining (ZN) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques in abattoir and slaughter houses in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Place and Duration of Study: A cross-sectional abattoir based-study was conducted on 800 slaughtered cattle in the Northern, Central and Southern Zonal abattoirs of Bauchi State, Nigeria. This work was carried out between June-September, 2013. Study Design: Experimental. Methodology: One hundred and twenty (120) tissue samples from different organs were suspected to have bTB lesions at PM 15% (120/800). Out of the samples examined 35 (29.2%) were Acid-Fast Bacilli (AFB) positive; 10 (8.3%) of which were confirmed positive for M. bovis by the confirmatory Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Results: The present study found the prevalence rates of 3.33% (4/120) and 5.00% (6/120) for males and females, respectively. This gave an overall prevalence of 8.33% for bTB (M. bovis) based on PCR. Bovine TB sex-specific rates were 10.00% (4/40) and 7.50% (6/80) by PCR, in males and females respectively. Female cattle also had a higher prevalence than male cattle but there was no statistically significant association (p>0.05, x2 = 0.218) between the presence of bTB in the tissues sampled and the sex of the cattle. There was a statistically significant association (p<0.05, x2 =7.002, OR=3.363) between detection of bTB in suspected tissues and the age of cattle. Using ZN, cattle aged six (6) years and above had the highest number of positive bTB cases 67.9% (31), while cattle aged 3-5 years old had the lowest 14.81% (4/27). PCR technique, revealed age-specific prevalence rate in cattle aged 6-8 and 9-11 years were 17.07% and 5.77%, respectively. Bauchi zonal abattoir had the highest number of suspected bTB cases (62.5%), followed by Katagum (26.7%) and Misau (10.8%). Conclusion: High infection rate of bTB was found among cattle sampled in the study area, with a significant prevalence in Bauchi metropolitan abattoir than the other two (2) slaughter houses (Katagum and Misau). This showed that the prevalence of bTB was higher in Bauchi metropolitan abattoir which supplies larger population of the state with beef. These findings also demonstrated that, there is urgent need for public health authorities in the state to intervene.
ABSTRACT
Aims: To determine the presence of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (rVNA) as well the potency of the rVNA in rabies occupational risk humans in Niger State of Nigeria. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration: Research was conducted at the Department of Veterinary Public Health, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and Rabies Unit, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, USA, between May, 2012 and March, 2013 Materials and Methods: A total of 185 human volunteers were recruited from rabies risk occupational groups who filled a structured questionnaire on their previous bite history and vaccination status, between May and July, 2012. A 2 ml each of blood from volunteers was collected and centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes and sera separated into pre-labeled vacutainers. Standard Rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT) was used to detect the presence of rVNA in the sera. Further end point titration of the rVNA positive human sera was conducted to determine the potency. Results: The results indicated that, detectable titre of rVNA was recorded in 16.4% (23 of 140) viable human sera screened. Although from the questionnaire survey, 21.7% (5 out of the 23 positives) responded to have been vaccinated over ten years prior. At least 3 of the respondents (1 dog butcher and 2 dog meat consumers) who responded not previously vaccinated had some neutralizing antibody titre range of 0.65 – 0.7 IU/ml which is above the minimum protective titre (0.5IU/ml) recommended by WHO. Similarly, 3 respondents (2 veterinarians and 1 animal health personnel) who responded to have been previously vaccinated (> 10 years earlier) yet had a high titre range of 0.5 – 5.4IU/ml. The highest specific rate for rVNA of 25% each was seen amongst the dog butchers and pet owners followed by hunters (20%) and dog meat consumers (14.8%). Up to 125 (67.6%) of the volunteers do consume dog meat with only 12 (9.6%) of them being dog butchers who source dogs for slaughter from households within and outside their territories. Conclusion: Although the WHO minimum protective titre of rVNA is 0.5 IU/ml, the presence of relatively high titres amongst these risk groups in this report is an indication of a serious public health threat. This study recommends the vaccination of rabies high risk groups and further screening of rabies occupational risk and non risk groups in the study area and Nigeria at large.
ABSTRACT
Background: It is estimated that about 600?000 children die annually as a result of severe dehydrating diarrhea caused by rotaviruses. The virus is a double stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus with 11 segments. Group A rotaviruses show a characteristic 4-2-3-2 pattern following electrophoresis. The VP6 subgroups; I and II exist. This work was carried out to study the prevalence of rotavirus infection among children 0-5 years with diarrhea in Kano; and to determine the circulating subgroups and electropherotypes and of the rotavirus isolates. Methods: Two hundred and eighteen stool specimens from children 0-60 months (198 diarrheic and 20 non-diarrheic) were collected from different hospitals and health care centers in Kano and subjected to group A rotavirus enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine presence of group A rotavirus; subgroup ELISA to determine the VP6 subgroups and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) to determine the electropherotypes present. Results: The long electropherotypes (47.05) of four variations dominated over the short electropherotype (17.64). About 11.76of the isolates were of mixed infection. Dominance of subgroup II (45) over subgroup I (25); and the presence of both subgroups I and II (10) and neither subgroup I nor II (15) was observed in this study. Conclusion: Information on the genomic diversity of the RNA electropherotypes in this region; Kano; is reported in this study