Isolation, identification and antimicrobial profile of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from bovine mastitis in and around Adama, Central Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Among bacterial pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus which lives in the mammary gland is the leading cause of bovine mastitis worldwide, which causes enormous economic losses to the dairy industry. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: The study was carried out cross-sectionally to determine the occurrence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and the risk factors for mastitis infection in dairy cows in and around Adama from October 2014 to June 2015. This particular study included 384 animals. Milk samples were collected and screened with California mastitis test. Then bacteria were cultured and identified using biochemical tests and disc diffusion test was used to determine the antimicrobial sensitivity for MRSA. RESULTS: The prevalence of mastitis was 121 (31.5%). Among them, 37 cases (30.6%) were clinical mastitis and 84 cases (69.4%) were subclinical mastitis. Among these positive cases, 37 cases (30.6%) of S. aureus were isolated. The prevalence of mastitis was significantly related to the breed, age, floor type and sanitation status of the milking (p <0.05). The Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method was performed on Mueller Hinton agar medium according to NCCLS guidelines to test antibiotic sensitivity. The 32.4% of S. aureus isolates were resistant to oxacillin. Isolates of MRSA are more resistant to amoxicillin (75%), oxytetracycline (66.7%) and sulfa (50%). However, they were sensitive to kanamycin (75%), streptomycin (58.3%) and nalidixic acid (50%). Insufficient dosage, short treatment time and chronic infection in dairy cows in the herd are the main reasons for the large number of resistant strains. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Generally, mastitis was prevalent in the area, and it was resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Therefore, hygienic, prevention and alternative treatment methods should be implemented.

Causes and Flock Level Risk Factors of Sheep and Goat Abortion in Three Agroecology Zones in Ethiopia.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to estimate the incidence of small ruminant abortion and identify its major causes and potential risk factors in goat and sheep flocks in three agroecology and production systems of Ethiopia. Information on pregnancy outcomes and management risk factors were collected for 299 goat and 242 sheep flocks. Blood samples were collected from 133 sheep and 90 goat flocks and tested for Coxiella burnetii, Brucella spp., Chlamydia abortus, and Toxoplasma gondii. A causal diagram outlined relationships between potential predictor variables and abortion in the flock. The effect of management and exposure to infectious causes on the number of abortions in the flock across agroecology was tested using zero-inflated negative binomial regression. Results showed that 142 (58.68%) goats and 53 (17.73%) sheep flocks reported abortions in the 12 months before the survey. The mean annual flock abortion percentages were 16.1% (±26.23) for does and 12.6% (±23.5) for ewes. Farmers perceived infectious diseases, extreme weather conditions, feed shortage, physical traumas, and plant poisoning as the most important causes of abortion. A higher proportion of abortion was recorded during the short rainy season (March to May) and start of the short dry and cold season (June to August) in the lowland mixed crop-livestock and pastoral agroecology and production system, respectively. Overall, 65.41% sheep and 92.22% goat flocks tested positive for one or more abortion causing agents, namely, C. burnetti, C. abortus, Brucella spp., and T. gondii; mixed infection was found in 31.58% sheep and 63.33% goat flocks. Spending the night in a traditional house and providing supplementary feed for pregnant dams were important management factors which significantly (p ≤ 0.05) decreased the risk of abortion by 2.63 and 4.55 times, respectively. However, the presence of other livestock species and dogs in the household and exposure of the flock to Brucella spp. or anyone of the four tested infectious agents significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased the risk of abortion in sheep and goat flocks. In general, abortion is a challenge for small ruminant production in the study area especially in lowland agroecology and calls for improvement in husbandry practices, health care and biosecurity practices.

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.