Browsing by Author "Rweyemamu, M. M"

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Are we prepared for emerging and re-emerging diseases? experience and lessons from epidemics that occurred in Tanzania during the last five decades
(2012-03) Karimuribo, E.D; Mboera, L. E.G; Mbugi, Erasto; Simba, Azma; Kivaria, F. M; Mmbuji, Peter; Rweyemamu, M. M
his paper reviews preparedness for containing and controlling emerging and re-emerging diseases drawing lessons from disease events that occurred in animal and human populations in the last five decades (1961-2011). A comprehensive analysis based on retrieval and analysis of grey and published literature as well as reported cases was carried out to document type and trend of occurrence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in different parts of Tanzania. Overall, the majority of diseases reported in the country were viral in nature followed by bacterial diseases. The trend for the occurrence shows a number of new emerging diseases as well as re-occurrence of old diseases in both animal (domestic and wild) and human populations. In humans, the major disease epidemics reported in the last five decades include cholera, influenza A H1N1, plague and rubella. In animals, the major epidemic diseases reported were Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia, Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia, Peste des petits ruminants and Giraffe Ear and Skin Diseases. Some epidemics have been reported in both human and animal populations including Rift Valley fever and anthrax. The emergence of the ‘fit-for purpose’ approaches and technologies such as the discipline of One Health, use of participatory epidemiology and disease surveillance and mobile technologies offers opportunity for optimal use of limited resources to improve early detection, diagnosis and response to disease events and consequently reduced impact of such diseases in animal and human populations. ____________________________
Dose-response relationships in a microneutralization test for foot-and-mouth disease viruses
(1977-05) Booth, J. C; Rweyemamu, M. M; Pay, T. W. F
Two-dimensional quantal microneutralization tests on foot-and-mouth disease viruses, in which neutralizing antibody activity was titrated against a serial range of virus doses, demonstrated a variety of dose-response curves some of which were rectilinear, others clearly curvilinear. Moreover, in the case of the non-linear responses obtained with some antisera, the shape of the curve was such that antibody titres recorded with doses of virus ranging from lCP-lO 5 TCD50 were closely similar. Studies were carried out on the effect of varying the con- ditions of the test on the shape of the dose-response curve: significant differences were obtained after treatment of the antiserum-virus mixtures with anti-species globulin, and when the test was assayed in cells of differing susceptibility to infection.
Microneutralization tests for serological typing and subtyping of foot-and-mouth disease virus strains
(1977-12) Rweyemamu, M. M; Booth, J. C; Head, Morwen; Pay, T. W. F
A microneutralization test for serotyping of FMD viruses is described. It is based on earlier observations by Booth, Rweyemamu & Pay (1978) that dose-response relationships in quantal microneutralizations often deviated from linearity. The typing test described therefore utilizes undiluted virus preparations. In about 90 % of samples a positive typing was obtained in contrast with about 50 % for the complement fixation test. The test was also found to be susceptible to minimal quantities of heterotypic viral contamination. For strain differentiation the microneutralization test was carried out as a checkerboard test. When compared with the complement fixation test it was found to be more specific. The necessity to utilize virus-neutralization test systems for comparing FMD virus strains particularly for the purpose of vaccine selection is emphasized. The two dimensional microneutralization test has been applied to a study of comparing FMDV vaccine strains for Europe, South America, the Middle East and East Africa.
Molecular characterization of foot-and-mouth disease viruses collected in Tanzania between 1967 and 2009
(Trans boundary and Emerging Disease, 2014-06-12) Kasanga, C. J; Wadsworth, J; Mpelumbe-Ngeleja, C. A. R; Sallu, R; Kivaria, F; Wambura, P. N; Yongolo, M. G. S; Rweyemamu, M. M; Knowles, N. J; King, D. P
This paper describes the molecular characterization of foot-and-mouth disease viruses (FMDV) recovered from outbreaks in Tanzania that occurred between 1967 and 2009. A total of 44 FMDV isolates, containing representatives of sero- types O, A, SAT 1 and SAT 2 from 13 regions of Tanzania, were selected from the FAO World Reference Laboratory for FMD (WRLFMD) virus collection. VP1 nucleotide sequences were determined for RT-PCR amplicons, and phylogenetic reconstructions were determined by maximum likelihood and neighbour-joining methods. These analyses showed that Tanzanian type O viruses fell into the EAST AFRICA 2 (EA-2) topotype, type A viruses fell into the AFRICA topotype (geno- type I), type SAT 1 viruses into topotype I and type SAT 2 viruses into topotype IV. Taken together, these findings reveal that serotypes O, A, SAT 1 and SAT 2 that caused FMD outbreaks in Tanzania were genetically related to lineages and topotypes occurring in the East African region. The close genetic relationship of viruses in Tanzania to those from other countries suggests that animal move- ments can contribute to virus dispersal in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the first molecular description of viruses circulating in Tanzania and highlights the need for further sampling of representative viruses from the region so as to elucidate the complex epidemiology of FMD in Tanzania and sub-Saharan Africa.