Zoonotic diseases at the human-domestic animal - Wildlife interface in Southern and Eastern Africa
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Date
2016
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Abstract
Southern and East African Countries are rich in ecosystems where human, livestock and wildlife populations are in close proximity and serviced by the ecosystems services such as water, land and fauna resources. In the course of mingling there are possibility of sharing pathogens which consequently may lead to outbreaks of zoonotic agents in the concern populations. In Tanzania various studies were conducted in the past decade which were determining the presence of zoonotic agents, the burden in individual populations, the dynamics and drivers of disease transmissions at the human-livestock-wildlife interfaces..
Using serological and molecular biological techniques, a cross sectional studies were conducted in human and animal populations at an various ecosystems neighbouring wildlife conservation areas of Tanzania. The selected agents studied included bacterial and viral zoonotic agents.
Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) was carried out to test for leptospira antibodies in 1,351 livestock and 42 wildlife. The overall seroprevalence was 26.35% and 28.57% with serovars of Leptospira Interrogans; Hardjo, Hebdomadis, Grippotyphosa, Sokoine and Lora were common. Similarly, 30% of 267 human samples tested positive, for almost similar serovars. Sequencing alignment on 16S ribosomal DNA gene, suggested that serovars of Leptospira interrogans were common among human and animal populations. Using Rose bengal as a screen test, a total of 5.57% and 11.9% of sera from domestic animal and wild animals were found to be positive respectively. The IDEXX Q Fever ELISA for the detection of antibodies against Coxiella burnetii was employed and 40 of 587 (6.8%) cattle and 15 of 22 (68.2%) of wild animals were found to have antibodies against C. brunetti. RVF virus testing conducted IgG and IgM ELISA revealed, thirty two out of 800 (4%) and eight out of 42 (19%) from domestic animals and wildlife tested positive for IgG respectively. Of the 440 sera from domestic animal tested for IgM only 15 (3.4%) had IgM, while all wild animal samples were negative. Under the PREDICT Project protocol, a total of 268 wildlife animal species (Bats, Rodents and Non human primates) were subjected to molecular virology diagnostic tests and revealed the presence of 64 viruses including 48 novel viruses. The identification of the novel viruses is still underway to determine the peculiar genus and species. Using the geographical information system, the locations for infected animals and humans congregated at same coordinates putatively indicate cross infections between two populations.
Findings from the present studies are providing important insight on presence of zoonotic agents which potentially may cause febrile illness among persons in frequent contact with animals and their products in the poor resources rural communities not only of Tanzania but across the developing world.
Description
International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 53-2016, Supplement, Page 5
Keywords
Zoonotic., Southern., Eastern Africa., Domestic animal., Diseases ., Wildlife interface.