Prioritization of neglected tropical zoonotic diseases: A one health perspective from Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia.

Neglected tropical zoonotic diseases (NTZDs) continue to have a major effect on the health of humans and animals. In this study, a one health approach was used to prioritize and rank neglected tropical zoonotic diseases at the regional and zonal levels in Tigray National Regional State, Ethiopia. For prioritization of NTZDs a cross-sectional study through a structured questionnaire was administered to 313 health experts from human and animal health sectors. In addition, focus group discussions (FGD) were held with purposively selected key informants. Descriptive, and Multivariable analysis was applied to report the results and a ranked list of diseases was developed at the zonal and regional level. In the region, 8 of the 12 World Health Organization listed NTZDs were considered major diseases including anthrax, brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, taeniasis, leishmaniasis, rabies, schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminths. Considering the zoonotic and socioeconomic importance of the diseases at the regional level, rabies ranked 1stwhereas anthrax, bovine tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, and brucellosis were ranked from 2nd to 5th, respectively. The FGD result also supported the prioritization result. The Multivariable analysis showed a statistically significant difference in the zonal distribution of anthrax (р = 0.009, OR = 1.16), taeniasis (p<0.001, OR = 0.82), leishmaniasis (p<0.001, OR = 1.91), rabies (p = 0.020, OR = 0.79) and soil-transmitted helminths (p = 0.007, OR = 0.87) but not for brucellosis (p = 0.585), bovine tuberculosis (p = 0.505), and schistosomiasis (p = 0.421). Anthrax (p<0.001, OR = 26.68), brucellosis (p<0.001, OR = 13.18), and taeniasis (p<0.001, OR = 6.17) were considered as the major zoonotic diseases by veterinary practitioners than human health practitioners whereas, leishmaniasis was recognized as a major health challenge by human health professionals. Understanding the priority diseases in the region is supportive for informed decision-making and prioritizes the limited resources to use. Furthermore, strengthening the collaboration between human and animal health professions is important to control the diseases.

The effect of brewery sludge biochar on immobilization of bio-available cadmium and growth of Brassica carinata.

Biochar has gained an attention in reducing the bio-availability of toxic heavy metals and minimize threat of entering into food chain from contaminated soil. This study was aimed at evaluating the potential use of brewery sludge biochar (BSB) as a soil amendment for reducing cadmium bio-availability and uptake by Brassica carinata in a pot experiment. In this pot experiment, artificially cadmium spiked, moderately fertile, and slightly basic silty-loam soil was used. The biochar was produced by pyrolyzing of the brewery sludge at 500 °C. The obtained biochar was sieved with 0.5 mm mesh size and applied at the rate of 4 % (w/w) on the Brassica carinata grown cadmium spiked soil. The additions of BSB to the soil contributed a significant reduction of the bio-availability of cadmium in the soil and its accumulation in the shoot of Brassica carinata by 86% and 93%, respectively. Besides, it remarkably increased the dry weight of the edible part of Brassica carinata by 228%. The results revealed that BSB is very effective additive in cadmium immobilization, in turn, significantly (p-value = 0.00) promoting vegetable (Brassica carinata) growth. Therefore, BSB can be used as agricultural soil remedy for cadmium contamination and as safe disposal of brewery sludge.

Prevalence of rheumatic heart disease among school children in Ethiopia: A multisite echocardiography-based screening.

BACKGROUND: Auscultation-based surveys in Ethiopia conducted in the late 1990's reported a rural prevalence of 4.6/1000 and an urban prevalence of 6.4/1000 of rheumatic heart disease (RHD). With echo-based screening, we aimed to estimate the national prevalence of RHD in school children by taking school-based samples from six regions across the country using the 2012 World Heart Federation echocardiographic criteria. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional echocardiographic screening of RHD in school children aged 6-18years from 28 randomly selected primary and secondary schools found in six different geographic regions of Ethiopia. We used the standardized WHF echocardiographic criteria. RESULTS: A total of 3238 children (48.5% females) were screened. The mean age was 13.2±3.2years. Of these, 44 patients (1.4%) met the WHF criteria for definite RHD, while 15 (0.5%) met the criteria for borderline disease, yielding a prevalence of 19 [13.9-23.4, 95% CI] cases per 1000 school children between the ages of 6-18years. The majority of those who tested positive were girls (26/44). The prevalence was lowest in children aged 6-9years and otherwise uniformly distributed across ages 10-18years. Definite RHD involved the mitral valve in 42 subjects, 39 of whom had mitral regurgitation and 3 with mitral stenosis. The aortic valve was affected in 6 children. The ratio of definite to borderline cases was 2.9. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a consistent pattern of high prevalence of asymptomatic RHD with definite disease predominating over borderline involvement across six regions of Ethiopia.