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Ambaye Kenubih,1 Bedaso Mammo,2 Getachew Terefe,2 Tewodros Fentahun1 1University of Gondar, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Gondar, Ethiopia; 2Addis Ababa University, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Bishoftu, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Ambaye Kenubih Email ambayken@yahoo.comBackground: The study was performed from January 2016 to May 2017 with the aim of identifying the impact of sheep and goat pox in skin quality in selected localities of central Ethiopia.Materials and Methods: A total of 1360 fresh, salted and dried skins were examined and graded. Pox lesion positive skins were examined by PCR to identify the agent.Results: The prevalence of sheep and goat in the study areas was 4.022%. From a total of 86 rejected skins, a large number of skins were in the rejected category (2.78%). There were highly statistically significant associations (p < 0.05) between sheep and goat pox and species and study areas. However, there were no statically significant associations (p > 0.05) between skin size and sheep and pox. Molecular diagnosis of the case revealed that goat pox virus was responsible for the lesion.Conclusion: Goat pox virus is the main cause of skin rejection and the factor that causes downgrading of skin.Keywords: central Ethiopia, sheep and goat pox, skin quality

Several neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) employ mass drug administration (MDA) as part of their control or elimination strategies. This has historically required multiple distinct campaigns, each targeting one or more NTDs, representing a strain on both the recipient communities and the local health workforce implementing the distribution. We explored perceptions and attitudes surrounding combined MDA among these two groups of stakeholders. Our qualitative study was nested within a cluster randomized non-inferiority safety trial of combined ivermectin, albendazole and azithromycin MDA. Using semi-structured question guides, we conducted 16 key informant interviews with selected individuals involved in implementing MDA within the participating district. To better understand the perceptions of recipient communities, we also conducted four focus group discussions with key community groups. Individuals were selected from both the trial arm (integrated MDA) and the control arm (standard MDA) to provide a means of comparison and discussion. All interviews and focus group discussions were led by fluent Afaan oromo speakers. Interviewers transcribed and later translated all discussions into English. The study team synthesized and analyzed the results via a coding framework and software. Most respondents appreciated the time and effort saved via the co-administered MDA strategy but there were some misgivings amongst community beneficiaries surrounding pill burden. Both the implementing health work force members and beneficiaries reported refusals stemming from lack of understanding around the need for the new drug regimen as well as some mistrust of government officials among the youth. The house-to-house distribution method, adopted as a COVID-19 prevention strategy, was by far preferred by all beneficiaries over central-point MDA, and may have led to greater acceptability of co-administration. Our data demonstrate that a co-administration strategy for NTDs is acceptable to both communities and health staff., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 McPherson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) programs require separate and distinct drug regimens for treatment. This has required countries to undertake multiple independent mass drug administration (MDA) programmes, each targeting one or more diseases. The possibility of safely combining different drug regimens together in one MDA may offer several advantages to national programs. We conducted a study to assess the safety of combining ivermectin, albendazole and azithromycin in one integrated MDA., Methods: We conducted an open-label, non-inferiority cluster-randomised trial comparing the frequency of adverse events in communities receiving co-administered ivermectin, albendazole and azithromycin to that in communities given albendazole and ivermectin MDA followed by azithromycin MDA after a two-week interval. The study took place in 58 gares (small administrative units) across two kebeles (sub-districts) in Kofele woreda (district) in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. We randomly assigned 29 gares to the combined treatment arm and 29 gares to the control arm. The study team revisited all individuals within 48 h and actively collected data on the occurrence of adverse events using a dedicated questionnaire and a pre-specified list of adverse events. The study team followed the same process in the control arm for the azithromycin distribution and again after the ivermectin plus albendazole distribution. Following this initial active surveillance, passive surveillance was undertaken for one week after the first visit. The primary outcome was the frequency of adverse events occurring following MDA. The study team determined that the safety of the combined MDA would be non-inferior to that of separate MDAs if the upper limit of the two-sided CI for the difference in rates was equal to or lower than 5%. The trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03570814., Findings: The study took place from December 2021 to January 2022. The combined MDA arm consisted of 7292 individuals who were eligible to participate, of whom 7068 received all three medications. The separate MDA arm consisted of 6219 eligible individuals of whom 6211 received ivermectin and albendazole and 4611 received azithromycin two weeks later. Overall, adverse events were reported by 197 (1.2%) of individuals. The most commonly reported adverse events included headache, gastrointestinal disturbance and dizziness. There were no serious adverse events in either arm. The cluster-level mean frequency of reported adverse events varied markedly between clusters, ranging from 0.1 to 10.4%. The cluster-level mean frequency of adverse events was 1.4% in the combined MDA arm and 1.2% following ivermectin and albendazole MDA (absolute difference 0.2%, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.6% to +1.1%). This met the pre-defined 1.5% non-inferiority margin. For the combined MDA comparison to the stand-alone azithromycin MDA the absolute difference was -0.4% (1.4 versus 1.8%, 95% CI -0.8 to +1.5) which also met the pre-specified non-inferiority margin., Interpretation: This study is the largest of its kind to date and demonstrates that the safety of combined MDA of azithromycin, ivermectin and albendazole is non-inferior to the safety of ivermectin-plus-albendazole MDA then azithromycin MDA conducted separately although we may not have been powered to detect very small differences between arms. Co-administration of these three medicines is safe and feasible in this setting and allows national programs to develop new strategies for integrated MDA programs., Funding: Ivermectin (Mectizan) was donated by the Mectizan Donation Program, albendazole was donated by GlaxoSmithKline, and azithromycin (Zithromax®) was donated by Pfizer via the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI). The trial was funded by ITI using operational research funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation., Competing Interests: MM was supported by the International Trachoma Initiative to present findings of this work at the Trachoma Expert Committee meeting in December 2022. TG is an employee of the International Trachoma Initiative. AS is an employee of the World Health Organization. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of these organizations., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Background: Ethiopian livestock production and productivity is still very low due to widespread of diseases. Among the diseases, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an extremely contagious and acute viral disease that causes significant economic problems in the country. A cross sectional study design was conducted from September 2015 to May 2016 to isolate and characterize FMD virus from outbreak cases; determine the sero-prevalence of antibodies against FMD virus (FMDV), and assess potential risk factors associated with sero-prevalence of the disease in selected areas of central Ethiopia. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select the study animals. Isolated viruses were characterized by antigen ELISA (IZLER, Brescia, Italy) and by genetic analysis of the sequence of the viral protein 1 (VP1). Sero-prevalence was determined using an ELISA for antibodies against non-structural proteins of FMDV based on the 3ABC proteins (ID Screen® FMD NSP Competition, ID-VET, Grabels, France). Risk factors for sero-prevalence of antibodies against FMD virus was investigated using logistic regression analysis., Result: From outbreak investigation, 28.8% (n = 378) cattle showed signs and lesions suggestive of FMD and 34 samples were subjected to virus isolation. Twenty eight of these cultures exhibited cytopathic effect (CPE) and were serotyped as O, A and SAT 2 FMD viruses. One A and two SAT 2 isolates named A-ETH-19-2015, SAT 2-ETH-18-2015 and SAT 2-ETH-20-2015 were further characterized by phylogenetic analysis. The overall sero-prevalence of antibodies against non-structural proteins of FMDV was 24.2% (n = 574). Cattle herds with crossbreed cattle, with older cattle (> 2 years), and kept together with small ruminants had higher sero-prevalences of antibodies against FMDV (p < 0.05)., Conclusion: This study showed that FMD was present in the study areas. Among the associated risk factors, breed, age and herd composition were significantly associated with presence of antibodies against FMD virus. Three different serotypes (A, O and SAT 2) were responsible for the outbreaks of the disease. Genetic analysis indicated that the isolated viruses clustered differently from previous outbreaks. Thus, further molecular analyses coupled with protection potential of the existing vaccines against the isolates should be performed.

Background: Ethiopia set an ambitious masterplan to increase chicken meat and egg production from 2015 to 2020. Poultry breeding, multiplication and distribution centers in the country have received executive order to import, amplify and distribute commercial chickens to end users. The biosecurity and the pathogen fauna of the centers have not been evaluated as to whether the centers could implement the mission effectively without any risk. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the biosecurity practices and the pathogen prevalence, risk factors and their antimicrobial resistance (AMR) using Salmonella as case study., Methods: Routine farm workers of the centers were interviewed about the different management (biosecurity) practices using a checklist. Samples (n = 270) from different sources consisting of chicken's cloacal swab (n = 244), personnel hand swab (n = 9) and bedding (n = 17) were collected from three chicken multiplication centers. Standard bacteriological methods were used for the isolation of Salmonella. Disk diffusion method was used for drug sensitivity testing., Results: Antimicrobials were often over prescribed without confirming the cause of ill health and without susceptibility testing. The general biosecurity and flock management practices were substandard. Salmonella was isolated from 45 (16.7%) of the 270 samples. Its prevalence was significantly (p<0.05) associated with location of the multiplication center, 27% at Bonga and 10.6% at Hawassa. Sample type was also significantly (p<0.05) affected in that it was higher in the bedding (35.3%) and personnel hand swabs (33.3%) than in the chicken cloaca (14.8%), which demonstrates the poor biosecurity and personnel hygienic practices in the centers. All of the 45 isolates (100%) exhibited resistance to kanamycin and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, nalidixic acid (97.8%), ampicillin (97.8%), cefoxitin (97.8%), streptomycin (97.8%) tetracycline (97.8%), chloramphenicol (91.3%), ciprofloxacin (31.1%), and gentamicin (0%). Alarmingly, 42 isolates (93.4%) exhibited multidrug resistance (MDR) to ≥ 8 drugs and all 45 isolates had resistance to ≥ 3 drugs. The high rate of Salmonella isolation from (i) bedding, (ii) personnel hand swabs (iii) chickens, (iv) presence of more MDR isolates, (v) coupled with poor biosecurity practices in the centers could pose a risk for spreading of pathogens and drug resistant genes to the smallholder chicken producers and the public., Conclusions: We conclude that the poultry breeding, multiplication and distribution centers in Ethiopia, as they stand currently, seem to be a source of pathogens and AMR isolates at least for Salmonella. Therefore, strict biosecurity, personnel safety, prudent drug use, regular monitoring and traceability of Salmonella serotypes or genotypes and AMR are recommended.

Background: Staphylococcus species cause mastitis and wound infection in livestock and food poisoning in humans through ingestion of contaminated foods, including meat and dairy products. They are evolving pathogens in that they readily acquire drug resistance, and multiple drug-resistant (MDR) isolates are increasing in human and veterinary healthcare. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of Staphylococci and their drug resistance in dairy farms and abattoir settings of Addis Ababa., Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 193 samples of milk, meat, equipment and humans working in the dairy farms and abattoir were collected (dairy farms = 72 and abattoir sources = 121). Staphylococcus isolation and identification at the species level was done according to ISO-6888-3 using biochemical characteristics. An antimicrobial susceptibility test was conducted for 43 of the isolates using 15 antimicrobial agents commonly used for humans and livestock by the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method following CLSI guidelines., Results: Staphylococcus organism were isolated from 92 (47.7%) of the total 193 samples, 50% in the dairy farms and 46.3% in the abattoir. The isolated species were S. aureus (n = 31; 16.1%), S. intermedius (n = 21; 10.9%), S. hyicus (n = 16; 8.3%), and coagulase negative Staphylococcus (CNS) (n = 24; 12.4%). Gentamycin was effective drug as all isolates (n = 43; 100%) were susceptible to it and followed by kanamycin (n = 39; 90.7%). However, the majority of the isolates showed resistance to penicillin-G (95.3%), nalidixic acid (88.4%), cloxacillin (79.1%), vancomycin (65.1%) and cefoxitin (55.8%). Of the 15 S. aureus tested for drug susceptibility, 73.3% of them were phenotypically resistant to vancomycin (VRSA) and all of the 15 isolates showed multi-drug resistance (MDR) to >3 drugs. Also, all of the tested CNS (100%), S. hyicus (100%) and the majority of S. intermedius isolates (88.9%) developed MDR., Conclusion: Alarmingly, the Staphylococcus isolates circulating in the dairy farms and abattoir in the study area harbor MDR. High level of Staphylococcus species isolation from personnel and equipment besides food (meat and milk) samples in dairy farms and abattoir settings reveals that the hygiene practice in the dairy farm and abattoir is substandard. Prudent drug use and improved hygienic practice is recommended in the dairy farms and abattoir to safeguard the public from the risk of acquiring infections and MDR pathogenic Staphylococcus.