A Survey of Priority Livestock Diseases and Laboratory Diagnostic Needs of Animal Health Professionals and Farmers in Uganda

Background: Despite the investments made in veterinary diagnostic laboratory service delivery in Uganda, the scope and level of utilization remains low. This study aimed to determine the priority livestock diseases for which farmers and animal health professionals require veterinary diagnostic laboratory services, document the perceptions and opinions of key stakeholders on veterinary diagnostic laboratory services, and determine the factors that influence the delivery and utilization of animal disease diagnostic services in Uganda.Methods: A qualitative study approach involving a survey and key informant interviews was used to collect relevant data from four stakeholder groups: animal health workers, laboratory technologists and technicians, farmers, and key informants. The survey data were exported to excel, and descriptive statistics performed. The key informant interview recordings were transcribed, and thematic analysis performed.Results: The most reported diseases and conditions for which diagnostic services were needed were hemoparasites (including East Coast fever, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and trypanosomosis), viral (including Foot and mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, rift valley fever, and papillomatosis), bacteria (including brucellosis, colibacillosis, anthrax, leptospirosis, and paratuberculosis) and protozoa diseases (coccidiosis), endoparasites (helminths), and mastitis. The most common diagnostic laboratory tests requested by clients, but laboratories were unable to provide included: rapid tests for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, Foot and mouth disease, Newcastle disease, acaricide analysis, culture and antimicrobial sensitivity test, serology, and complete blood count. The most frequently reported challenges to providing diagnostic laboratory services were poor or lack of relevant equipment, insufficient or lack of supplies and reagents, high cost of reagents, inadequate or lack of laboratory staff to perform tests, and inadequate training of laboratory staff.Conclusions: This study highlighted the need to improve provision of laboratory diagnostic services to meet the prioritized diagnostic needs of farmers and animal health professionals. Increased intersectoral engagement and funding support from the private, industry, and government sectors is necessary to help address the observed challenges to provision of diagnostic laboratory services, including equipping of the laboratories, provision of supplies, and hiring and training of laboratory staff. Finally, the findings also suggest that the education of farmers and animal health workers on the value and benefits of laboratory diagnostic services may contribute to increase in sample submission and subsequent demand for diagnostic laboratory services.

Download Full-text

Contributions of village animal health workers to foot‐and‐mouth disease control in Cambodia

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases ◽

10.1111/tbed.14317 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Socheat Sieng ◽

Ian Walter Patrick ◽

Peter Andrew Windsor ◽

Stephen William Walkden‐Brown ◽

James Kerr ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Control ◽

Health Workers ◽

Animal Health ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Foot And Mouth

Download Full-text

Socio-Economic Impacts of Foot and Mouth Disease Among Cattle Farmers in Sagaing and Mandalay Areas, Myanmar

10.20506/standz.2784 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Ai Thanda Kyaw

Keyword(s):

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Economic Impacts ◽

Animal Health ◽

Lao Pdr ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Economic Costs ◽

Foot And Mouth ◽

World Organisation ◽

Control And Eradication

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Sub-Regional Representation for South East Asia (OIE SRR-SEA) implemented the Stop Transboundary Animal Diseases and Zoonoses (STANDZ) Programme funded by AusAID to strengthen the veterinary services and effectively manage the control and eradication of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar. The purpose of the study is to understand how FMD outbreaks impact smallholder farmers, both men and women, at the household and village level and how control and eradication of FMD would benefit them. Specific aims are to estimate the direct and indirect socio-economic costs associated with the outbreaks of FMD as well as of the measures taken by farmers to deal with such outbreaks and to identify issues that contributed to the socio-economic impacts of FMD outbreaks and opportunities to reduce them.

Download Full-text

Diseases as Impediments to Livestock Production and Wildlife Conservation Goals

10.5772/intechopen.94467 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Y.J. Atuman ◽

C.A. Kudi ◽

P.A. Abdu ◽

O.O. Okubanjo ◽

A. Abubakar

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Infections ◽

Wildlife Conservation ◽

Viral Infections ◽

Animal Health ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Domestic Animal ◽

Livestock Production ◽

Emerging Pathogens ◽

Livestock Diseases

Disease outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics have been of importance for human and animal health worldwide and sparked enormous public interest. These outbreaks might be caused by known endemic pathogens or by emerging or re-emerging pathogens. Wildlife are the major reservoirs and responsible for most of these outbreaks. They play significant role in the transmission of several livestock diseases and pathogen spill-over may occur in complex socio-ecological systems at the wildlife-domestic animal interface which have been seldom studied. Interspecific pathogen spill-over at the wildlife-livestock interface have been of growing concern in the scientific community over the past years due to their impact on wildlife, livestock and human health. In this section the epidemiology of some viral infections (Foot and Mouth Disease and rabies), bacterial infections (Tuberculosis and brucellosis) and parasites (haemo and endo-parasites) at the wildlife-livestock interface and potential impacts to livestock production and conservation goal is described.

Download Full-text

An Assessment of Microbiological Methods to Test Sterility of Foot-and-mouth Disease Vaccines Produced in Brazil

Acta Scientiae Veterinariae ◽

10.22456/1679-9216.80855 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 5

Author(s):

Carla Rosane Rodenbusch ◽

Luiz Roberto da Silveira ◽

Álvaro Ricardo Bavaresco ◽

Marcus Vinícius Burgel Sfoggia

Keyword(s):

Membrane Filtration ◽

Culture Medium ◽

Animal Health ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Pump System ◽

Microbiological Methods ◽

Foot And Mouth ◽

Direct Inoculation ◽

Filtration Technique

Background: Foot-and-mouth vaccines are an important tool in the control and eradication of the disease. In order to be commercialized, vaccines produced in Brazil undergo an evaluation process by health authorities, which includes sterility testing, residual active virus, potency, thermal stability, volume and non-structural protein activity. Sterility tests described in the Brazilian Pharmacopeia and by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) include direct inoculation and membrane filtration methods. The objective of the present study was to evaluate these two methods used to analyze sterility of vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease produced in Brazil.Materials, Methods & Results: Vaccines produced by the six main laboratories in Brazil were initially tested for filtration capacity. The sensitivity of the two techniques was determined artificially contaminating vaccines using known bacterial concentrations. Vaccines (9 bottles) from the same manufacturer were inoculated with 5 mL of steady-state growths of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and Clostridium sporogenes to final concentrations of 0.1, 1 and 10 CFU/ mL and a final volume of 55 mL. Bottles were manually shaken for 1 min to complete homogenization of contents. Then, 10 mL of each flask were used in assessment of the direct inoculation method, and 10 mL were used to evaluate the membrane filtration technique. Direct inoculation was carried out inoculating 1 mL of the experimentally contaminated vaccine in five tryptic soy broth (TSB) and fluid thioglycollate medium (FTM) bottles. The membrane filtration technique was carried out filtrating 10 mL of the challenged vaccines in a peristaltic pump system (SteritestTM Pump System), where vaccines were initially solubilized in Triton X-100 to promote filtration. Next, membranes are incubated in TSB and FTM. These use two types of culture medium, tryptic soy broth (TSB) and fluid thioglycollate medium (FTM), with incubation times of 20-25ºC and 30-35ºC, respectively, to detect fungi, yeasts, and aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The medium is incubated for 14 days, to enable the detection of slow-growth microorganisms that may be in a latent stage or weakened due to the extreme conditions of the production process (like the use of cleaning and disinfection agents, ultraviolet light, and preservers, for instance). All vaccines were effectively filtered in the SteritestTM Pump System. Membrane filtration and direct inoculation presented the same sensitivity to detect yeasts (0.1 CFU/mL) and anaerobic organisms (1 CFU/mL). For the detection of aerobic organisms, membrane filtration was 100 times more sensitive, compared to direct inoculation.Discussion: The specialized literature also reports that, apart from the higher sensitivity, membrane filtration affords to reduce contamination during the procedures, since it is carried out in a closed system. In addition, it is indicated in the analysis of large sample volumes. Moreover, membrane filtration reduces the occurrence of false positive results, since it removes the excess vaccine volume from the culture medium, which may be mistaken for turbidity caused by bacterial growth. In this sense, the membrane filtration technique is more appropriate in the control of vaccine sterility in foot-andmouth disease prevention strategies, and is an interesting tool to improve quality control of the product.

Download Full-text

Parallels, differences and lessons: a comparison of the management of foot-and-mouth disease and COVID-19 using UK 2001/2020 as points of reference

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2020.0906 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 287 (1938) ◽

pp. 20200906

Author(s):

Keith Sumption ◽

Theodore J. D. Knight-Jones ◽

Melissa McLaws ◽

David J. Paton

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Animal Health ◽

Scientific Information ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Foot And Mouth ◽

The Uk ◽

Disease Free ◽

Rapid Emergence ◽

Critical Resources

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an extremely infectious viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals which is highly challenging to control and can give rise to national animal health crises, especially if there is a lack of pre-existing immunity due to the emergence of new strains or following incursions into disease-free regions. The 2001 FMD epidemic in the UK was on a scale that initially overwhelmed the national veterinary services and was eventually controlled by livestock lockdown and slaughter on an unprecedented scale. In 2020, the rapid emergence of COVID-19 has led to a human pandemic unparalleled in living memory. The enormous logistics of multi-agency control efforts for COVID-19 are reminiscent of the 2001 FMD epidemic in the UK, as are the use of movement restrictions, not normally a feature of human disease control. The UK experience is internationally relevant as few countries have experienced national epidemic crises for both diseases. In this review, we reflect on the experiences and lessons learnt from UK and international responses to FMD and COVID-19 with respect to their management, including the challenge of preclinical viral transmission, threat awareness, early detection, different interpretations of scientific information, lockdown, biosecurity behaviour change, shortage of testing capacity and the choices for eradication versus living with infection. A major lesson is that the similarity of issues and critical resources needed to manage large-scale outbreaks demonstrates that there is benefit to a ‘One Health’ approach to preparedness, with potential for greater cooperation in planning and the consideration of shared critical resources.

Download Full-text

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of smallholder farmers on foot and mouth disease control in two Cambodian provinces

10.22541/au.161554875.53061080/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Socheat Sieng ◽

Ian Patrick ◽

Peter Windsor ◽

Steve Walkden-Brown ◽

Chetra Sar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Control ◽

Disease Transmission ◽

Health Workers ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Animal Health ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Morbidity Rate ◽

Infected Cattle ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

Food-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in Cambodia. The control program for FMD has relied on vaccination, with poor vaccination uptake by smallholder farmers an increasing concern. A study to improve the understanding of farmer knowledge, attitudes and practices of FMD and FMD vaccination was conducted in two Cambodian provinces. The aim was to identify opportunities to improve the disease control programs provided by both the government and private sectors. The survey comprised 300 smallholder farmers using a one-on-one interview technique. Results identified that over two-thirds of the respondent farmers had not vaccinated their cattle over two years. Of those who did, most cattle were vaccinated either once a year or once every three years. A booster had never been administered. FMD outbreaks occurred every year during the study period, with a morbidity rate of over 30%. Isolation of first infected cattle from the household herd was not practiced, with treatment identified as the first preference intervention. Farmers often assisted other farmers to restrain and treat infected cattle both before (57%) and after (43%) their own cattle were infected. This indicated that most farmers did not practice basic biosecurity measures and chose to report FMD outbreaks to the village animal health workers (VAHW), friends, neighbors, and relatives in preference to government officials. It was concluded that poor knowledge of disease transmission and biosecurity, with low FMD vaccination coverage and a focus on treatment, contribute to regular FMD outbreaks in these communities. Improvement of FMD control requires the cooperation of villagers, VAHWs, and village leaders in disease reporting, with either improved funding of government vaccination services or private FMD vaccination service. Training programs for farmers on disease transmission, and the importance of biosecurity and vaccination, including information on the cost-benefits of treatment versus full fee bi-annual FMD vaccination, are required.

Download Full-text

Financial impact of foot-and-mouth disease inTurkey: acquisition of required data viaDelphiexpert opinion survey

Veterinární Medicína ◽

10.17221/5649-vetmed ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 50 (No. 10) ◽

pp. 451-460 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

B. Senturk ◽

C. Yalcin

Keyword(s):

Animal Health ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Health Data ◽

Reliable Data ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Financial Impact ◽

Opinion Survey ◽

Main Obstacle ◽

Foot And Mouth ◽

Expert Opinion Survey

The main obstacle in assessing the financial impact of foot-and-mouth disease inTurkeyis unavailability of reliable data. Considering this issue, this study aimed at using a Delphi Expert Opinion Survey (DEOS) method to obtain data required for economic analysis of FMD inTurkey. This study concluded that although there were problems in obtaining some information from the experts, in general theDelphitechnique is a promising way of obtaining animal health data, which is otherwise missing and/or not regularly recorded in developing countries.

Download Full-text

Modeling the Effects of Multiple Intervention Strategies on Controlling Foot-and-Mouth Disease

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2015/584234 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Steady Mushayabasa ◽

Gift Tapedzesa

Keyword(s):

Animal Health ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Economic Security ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Control Measures ◽

Control Functions ◽

Time Period ◽

Foot And Mouth ◽

Implementation Costs ◽

Multiple Intervention

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a threat to economic security and infrastructure as well as animal health, in both developed and developing countries. We propose and analyze an optimal control problem where the control system is a mathematical model for FMD that incorporates vaccination and culling of infectious animals. The control functions represent the fraction of animals that are vaccinated during an outbreak, infectious symptomatic animals that are detected and culled, and infectious nonsymptomatic animals that are detected and culled. Our aim was to study how these control measures should be implemented for a certain time period, in order to reduce or eliminate FMD in the community, while minimizing the interventions implementation costs. A cost-effectiveness analysis is carried out, to compare the application of each one of the control measures, separately or in combination.

Download Full-text

Vesicular stomatitis due to Indiana III (Alagoas/VSIV-3) is endemic in Brazilian state of Ceará

Ciência Rural ◽

10.1590/0103-8478cr20190846 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 50 (6) ◽

Author(s):

Célio Souza da Rocha ◽

Ilanna Vanessa Pristo de Medeiros Oliveira ◽

Gabriela Hemylin Ferreira Moura ◽

José Artur Brilhante Bezerra ◽

Fernanda Cristina Macedo Rondon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Animal Health ◽

Sandwich Elisa ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Diagnostic Challenge ◽

Viral Neutralization ◽

Probable Case ◽

Foot And Mouth ◽

Vesicular Stomatitis ◽

World Organization

ABSTRACT: Although Northeast Brazil is considered free of foot and mouth disease (FMD) with vaccination, several economic and health damages are still recorded due to the occurrence of vesicular syndromes that can be evaluated, such as Vesicular Stomatitis (VS). Therefore, this study aimed to confirm the occurrence of this disease and to determine the predominant viral serotype in suspected cases notified to the Official Veterinary Service of Ceará in 2013 performing official diagnostic protocols recommended by the World Organization for Animal Health. After clinical and epidemiological investigation in 46 farms, 32 probable cases of VS were considered with 78 sampled animals, 65 bovines and 13 equines. Serum (54) and epithelium (24) samples were collected. Six (14.6%) of 41 bovines and 8 (61.5%) of 13 equines described seroconversion to Indiana Vesiculovirus (IVV) by viral neutralization. The IVV was detected in 15 (62.5%) of 24 bovines epithelia using the indirect sandwich ELISA. Finally, positive epithelium underwent complement fixation test viral subtyping that identified the occurrence of Indiana III serotype (Alagoas/IVV-3) in 11 (73.3%) of 15 previous positives cattle. These were the first confirmed cases of VS in Ceará with an official diagnosis of IVV-3, confirming the endemic character attributed to the state through previous unofficial serological surveys. The presence of VS is a continuing diagnostic challenge, given the risk of possible incursions of FMD. Vesicular stomatitis is recurrent and is a worrying in this area free of foot and mouth disease with vaccination that bring damage to producers and a maximum alert to the Sanitary Defense Organs in the face of a probable case of vesicular syndrome.

Download Full-text

Are we Foot and Mouth Disease ready?

Journal of Science Communication ◽

10.22323/2.19030302 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (03) ◽

pp. C02

Author(s):

Jennifer Manyweathers ◽

Marta Hernandez-Jover ◽

Lynne Hayes ◽

Barton Loechel ◽

Jennifer Kelly ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Management ◽

Animal Health ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Innovation Systems ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Animal Disease ◽

Agricultural Innovation ◽

Foot And Mouth ◽

The Impact ◽

Agricultural Innovation Systems

A transdisciplinary pilot study with Australia's livestock industries is bringing multiple stakeholders together as equal partners, to examine the complex problems around animal disease management. These problems include disease surveillance and on-farm biosecurity practices. The pilot groups are established in industries susceptible to foot and mouth disease, namely dairy and beef cattle, pork, sheep and goats. The Agricultural Innovation Systems framework is being evaluated to determine its effectiveness as a tool to improve partnerships between stakeholders. These stakeholders include livestock producers (farmers), private and government veterinarians, local council representatives, and industry personal including from saleyards and abattoirs. Stimulation of innovative solutions to issues arising from conflicting priorities and limited resources around animal disease management are also expected. Using a participatory communication approach, the impact of the pilot on trust and relationships is being evaluated. The sustainability of the Agricultural Innovation Systems approach to address complex issues around animal health management is also being assessed. The aim of the study is to strengthen Australia's preparedness for an emergency animal disease outbreak, such as Foot and Mouth Disease.

Download Full-text