Incidence and economic impact of rabies in the cattle population of Ethiopia.

Rabies is a viral disease that can cause fatal encephalomyelitis both in animals and humans. Although incidences of the disease in cattle have been reported, insight in the economic impact of the disease in livestock remains limited. By affecting cattle in subsistence systems, rabies may have extensive economic impacts at household and country levels, in addition to the effects on human health. This study presents estimates of the direct economic impact of rabies at herd level in two representative subsistence cattle-farming systems in Ethiopia, the mixed crop-livestock and pastoral production systems. The economic impacts were assessed by a structured questionnaire administered to 532 cattle-owning households. These households were selected from four districts within two administrative zones; each zone representing a cattle production system. Rabies incidence rates of 21% and 11% at herd level were calculated for the mixed crop-livestock and pastoral production systems, respectively. The incidence rate at cattle level was the same in both systems., i.e. 2%. Herd-level incidence rates were higher in the mixed crop-livestock system than in the pastoral system (P<0.05). Average economic losses per herd due to rabies were estimated at 49 USD per year for the mixed-crop livestock system, and at 52 USD per year for the pastoral system; whereas in affected herds the average losses per year were 228 USD (range 48-1016 USD) in the mixed crop-livestock system, and 477 USD (range 173-1140 USD) in the pastoral system. The average herd-level economic losses were not significantly different between the farming systems; however once the herd was affected, the losses were significantly higher for the pastoral system than for the mixed crop-livestock system (P<0.01). The losses due to rabies in cattle are relatively high for pastoral households, due to their complete dependency on livestock for their livelihoods. Although the current estimates only account for the direct losses resulting from cattle mortality, the estimates already indicate the potential economic gains from a rabies intervention in the dog population, of which the benefits can be shared by the public health sector.

Review on dog rabies vaccination coverage in Africa: a question of dog accessibility or cost recovery?

BACKGROUND: Rabies still poses a significant human health problem throughout most of Africa, where the majority of the human cases results from dog bites. Mass dog vaccination is considered to be the most effective method to prevent rabies in humans. Our objective was to systematically review research articles on dog rabies parenteral vaccination coverage in Africa in relation to dog accessibility and vaccination cost recovery arrangement (i.e.free of charge or owner charged). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A systematic literature search was made in the databases of CAB abstracts (EBSCOhost and OvidSP), Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Medline (EBSCOhost and OvidSP) and AJOL (African Journal Online) for peer reviewed articles on 1) rabies control, 2) dog rabies vaccination coverage and 3) dog demography in Africa. Identified articles were subsequently screened and selected using predefined selection criteria like year of publication (viz. ≥ 1990), type of study (cross sectional), objective(s) of the study (i.e. vaccination coverage rates, dog demographics and financial arrangements of vaccination costs), language of publication (English) and geographical focus (Africa). The selection process resulted in sixteen peer reviewed articles which were used to review dog demography and dog ownership status, and dog rabies vaccination coverage throughout Africa. The main review findings indicate that 1) the majority (up to 98.1%) of dogs in African countries are owned (and as such accessible), 2) puppies younger than 3 months of age constitute a considerable proportion (up to 30%) of the dog population and 3) male dogs are dominating in numbers (up to 3.6 times the female dog population). Dog rabies parenteral vaccination coverage was compared between "free of charge" and "owner charged" vaccination schemes by the technique of Meta-analysis. Results indicate that the rabies vaccination coverage following a free of charge vaccination scheme (68%) is closer to the World Health Organization recommended coverage rate (70%) than the achieved coverage rate in owner-charged dog rabies vaccination schemes (18%). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Most dogs in Africa are owned and accessible for parenteral vaccination against rabies if the campaign is performed "free of charge".

Lice infesting horses in three agroecological zones in central Oromia.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence and species composition of lice infesting horses in three agroecological zones in seven different districts in central Oromia from November 2011 to April 2012. For this purpose, a total of 420 horses were thoroughly examined for presence of lice. Collected lice were identified to species level under a microscope. The study showed an overall prevalence of 28.8 % (121/420) lice infestation on horses. We identified two spp. of lice on horses namely, Bovicola (Werneckiella) equi and Haematopinus asini with an overall prevalence of 22.9 % (96/420) and 5.9 % (25/420), respectively. The overall prevalence of lice infestation on horses in districts was 48.3, 43.3, 33.3, 23.3, 21.7, 18.3 and 13.3 %, in Debre Brehan, Shashemene, Hawassa, Akaki, Adama, Modjo and Bishoftu, respectively. B. equi was encountered as the predominant species on horses in all districts. Higher overall prevalence of lice infestation was recorded in highland agroecology than mid and lowland agroecological zones. Similarly, our study revealed significantly higher overall prevalence of lice on saddle horses than on cart horses. In view of the findings of the present study two species of lice are responsible for health and welfare problems of horses in all the districts. Detailed epidemiological studies on the significance, prevalence and role of lice as vectors of zoonotic pathogens in different agroecological zones, breeds and management systems warrant urgent attention. Animal owners and veterinarians should consider lice control in horses as part of the ectoparasite control in other species of animals.