Abstract: A disease with clinical and post-mortem presentation similar to those seen in heartwater, a tick-borne disease of domestic and wild ruminants caused by the intracellular bacterium Ehrlichia ruminantium, was first reported in dromedary camels in Kenya in 2016; investigations carried out at the time to determine the cause were inconclusive. In the present study, we screened sera from Kenyan camels collected before (2015) and after (2020) the 2016 disease outbreak for antibodies to Eh...
Abstract: Ticks are increasingly a global public health and veterinary concern. They transmit numerous pathogens that are of veterinary and public health importance. Acaricides, livestock breeding for tick resistance, tick handpicking, pasture spelling, and anti-tick vaccines (ATVs) are in use for the control of ticks and tick-borne diseases (TTBDs); acaricides and ATVs being the most and least used TTBD control methods respectively. The overuse and misuse of acaricides has inadvertently sel...
Abstract: The sources of animal odours are highly diverse, yet their ecological importance, in host–vector communication, remains unexplored. Here, using the camel (host)–Stomoxys calcitrans (vector) interaction, we collected and analyzed the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) of camels from four of its diferent odour sources: breath, body (skin), urine, and dung. On non-metric model multivariate analyses of VOCs we show that substantial chemo-diversity exists between metabolic products a...
Abstract: We present findings from an outbreak of a heartwater-like disease in camels that killed at least 2000 adult animals in Kenya in 2016. Clinical signs included excitability, head pressing, aimless wandering, recumbency, and fast breathing followed by death after about 4 days. The observed morbidity in one herd was 40% with an average mortality of 7.5% in animals that received early antibiotic treatments. In untreated adults, the case fatality rate reached 100%. Gross pathology showed...
Abstract: Tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) are major constraints to livestock production and a threat to public health in Africa. This cross-sectional study investigated the risk of infection with TBPs in cattle of Lambwe Valley, Kenya. Blood samples of 680 zebu cattle from 95 herds in six geospatial clusters within 5 km of Ruma National Park were screened for bacterial and protozoan TBPs by high-resolution melting analysis and sequencing of PCR products. We detected Anaplasma bovis (17.4%), Anap...
Abstract: Ticks and tick-borne diseases cause substantial economic losses to the livestock industry in sub-Saharan Africa. Mazao Tickoff is a novel bioacaricide developed for tick control and is based on the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato (s.l.) isolate ICIPE 7. To date, no randomized controlled study has been undertaken to demonstrate the efficacy of this bioacaricide in reducing natural tick infestation on cattle. To this end, this field trial is designed to eval...
This paper looks at a movement-based assay to analyze adaptability in Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion behavior. A series of sinusoidal microchannels of fixed wavelength and varying amplitude, with the width being similar to the body diameter of the organism, are used for this purpose. The worms are allowed to enter the channel from the input and transition towards the output port. In sections that are similar to the worms' undulations, the movement is fast and steady. However, as the channe...
This paper looks at a movement-based assay to analyze adaptability in Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion behavior. A series of sinusoidal microchannels of fixed wavelength and varying amplitude, with the width being similar to the body diameter of the organism, are used for this purpose. The worms are allowed to enter the channel from the input and transition towards the output port. In sections that are similar to the worms' undulations, the movement is fast and steady. However, as the channe...
To evaluate the level of infestation of the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines, in the field, egg population densities are determined from soil samples. Sucrose centrifugation is a common technique for separating debris from the extracted SCN eggs. We have developed a procedure, however, that employs OptiPrep as a density gradient medium, with improved extraction and recovery of the eggs compared to the sucrose centrifugation technique. Also, we have built computerized methods t...
To evaluate the level of infestation of the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines, in the field, egg population densities are determined from soil samples. Sucrose centrifugation is a common technique for separating debris from the extracted SCN eggs. We have developed a procedure, however, that employs OptiPrep as a density gradient medium, with improved extraction and recovery of the eggs compared to the sucrose centrifugation technique. Also, we have built computerized methods t...
To evaluate the level of infestation of the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines, in the field, egg population densities are determined from soil samples. Sucrose centrifugation is a common technique for separating debris from the extracted SCN eggs. We have developed a procedure, however, that employs OptiPrep as a density gradient medium, with improved extraction and recovery of the eggs compared to the sucrose centrifugation technique. Also, we have built computerized methods t...
Abstract Infectious bronchitis (IB) is an acute infectious viral disease causing severe economic losses in poultry production. In Nigeria, there has only been monitoring of the disease in chickens with little attention given to other bird species. For this study, blood samples were collected from 184 apparently healthy, unvaccinated birds which comprised of 61 captured free-living pigeons, 60 free range indigenous chickens and 63 intensively reared Japanese quails. Sera from these bir...
SUMMARY The study evaluated the effect of dietary inclusion levels of walnut leaf (WL) and onion bulb (OB) residues on dermal wound healing of Clarias gariepinus. The experiment was carried out in 9 experimental tanks (1.8 m x 2 m x 1.2 m) for 14 days. Nine experimental diets were formulated at 40% crude protein representing the following inclusion levels: Control (0%), OB2 (0.5%), OB3 (1.0%), OB4 (1.5%), OB5 (2.0%), WL6 (0.5%), WL7 (1.0%), WL8 (1.5%) and WL9 (2.0%). Fish (mean weight of 1kg)...
ABSTRACT Trypanosomosis is a vector-borne, tropical disease that causes mortality and morbidity in livestock and humans. In this study we investigated the risk factors for trypanosome infection in cattle in the Maasai Steppe of northern Tanzania. We assessed the influence of age, sex, herd size and history of treatment against trypanosomosis as risk factors of trypanosome infection. Cattle blood samples were collected from 150 cattle in three villages in the vicinity of Tarangire National P...
The nutritional contents of Carica papaya and Calotropis procera processed cheeses were evaluated.The following nutrients and elements were assayed; fat, protein, moisture, sugar, Zn, Mn, Fe, and Cuand their values were 22.3 and 31.45%, 31.60 and 33.84%, 62.5 and 61.70%, 2.05 and 8.10%, 1.19 and4.14%, 2.80 and 2.35%, 4.8 and 4.7%, 4.6 and 7.3% for C. papaya and C. procera processed cheeses,respectively. The values obtained for fat, protein, sugar, Zn, and Cu were higher in C. proceraprocessed...