ABSTRACT This study was aimed at examining the food craving and aversion among first time pregnant women in selected health facilities in Enugu metropolis. The objectives of this study were to determine the type of food first time pregnant women crave for or have aversion to, identify their reasons for their specific food craving and aversion, determine the first time pregnant women’s awareness of the implication of food craving and aversion in pregnancy and to identify measures taken by fi...
ABSTRACT Fetal transverse cerebellar diameter (TCD) was found to be useful in gestational age (GA) assessment during routine fetal ultrasound examination. The aim of this study is to establish normogram of fetal TCD in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and to compare its ability to predict gestational age with previously published nomograms. Six hundred and ninety seven pregnant women with GA between 14 and 40 weeks were scanned using convenience sampling method. Each woman had thr...
ABSTRACT Wuchereria bancrofti is the most widely distributed of the three nematodes known to cause lymphatic filariasis, the other two being Brugia malayi and B. timori. The present study was carried out to investigate strains of W. bancrofti in mosquito vectors responsible for lymphatic filariasis transmission in Pangani district, north-eastern Tanzania. In addition, the vector abundance and vector infection rates were investigated. The presence of W. bancrofti in mosquitoes was determined...
ABSTRACT Mosquito-borne viruses are an important cause of human and domestic diseases worldwide. As crucially important emerging pathogens, they have caused multiple, notable and unnoticed epidemics of human disease over recent decades. All mosquitoborne viruses circulate within sylvatic cycles among wildlife and forest mosquitoes and may cause diseases in rural and urban populations after spillover transmission to human and domestic animals. The aim of this study was to determine mosquito d...
ABSTRACT Respiratory infections cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide and are the second leading causes of death in Tanzania. Several studies involving national sentinel surveillance for influenza and epidemiology of influenza have been conducted in Tanzania. However, there is a dearth in information on the aetiology of respiratory diseases. This study screened for influenza viruses in subject with influenza-like illnesses in selected areas of Tanzania. A total of 735 subjects...
ABSTRACT Control of East Coast fever (ECF) depends on the use of acaricides against ticks, chemotherapy and vaccination. ECF vaccination is based on an infection and treatment method (ITM), which induces life-long immunity if cattle are exposed to mild tick infestation. However, ECF vaccination has several limitations, such as high cost of simultaneously used antibiotics. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether Toll-like receptor 7(TLR7) agonist could effectively induce ...
ABSTRACT A cross sectional study was carried out in Iringa Region involving two Districts of Kilolo and Iringa Municipal to determine the epidemiological risk factors of the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak and genotyping the circulating African swine fever virus (ASFV) during a hemorrhagic disease outbreak in 2012 in Iringa. A structured questionnaire was used to collect epidemiological risk factors from pig keepers. Eighty households that kept pigs and that experienced the disease in 201...
ABSTRACT The present study was carried out to confirm and genetically characterize dengue virus (DENV) present in sera collected from patients with dengue fever during the 2013 and 2014 dengue outbreaks in Tanzania. Sera were collected from patients who met the clinical case definition for dengue fever. Dengue fever was diagnosed in patients included in this study by detection of IgM and IgG DENV antibodies using a combination of a rapid test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). DE...
ABSTRACT Mosquito-borne viruses cause emerging and re-emerging infections affecting humans and animals. These diseases present themselves mainly with fever. The present study aimed at determining socio-demographic and clinical characteristics among febrile patients, and detection of selected mosquito-borne viruses circulating in Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus. Using a hospital-based cross-sectional descriptive study design, in total 400 febrile patients were recruited after consenting into...
ABSTRACT African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large double-stranded DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family that causes African swine fever (ASF), a highly contagious and fatal hemorrhagic disease of domestic pigs. African swine fever presents a serious threat to the food security and livelihoods of pig-keeping farmers. The aim of this study was to diagnose and genotype ASFV in domestic pigs following reports of ASF outbreaks in northern and southern Tanzania during 2014. Fifteen tissue sample...
ABSTRACT Orf virus (ORFV) is a member of the parapoxvirus genus that causes orf, a zoonotic and epitheliotropic highly contagious disease mainly affecting sheep, goats, wild ruminants and humans. In the present study, an outbreak of a disease in goats with clinical signs suggestive of orf in 11 flocks with a total of 259 goats was investigated between May and June 2015. Eight villages in districts of Bagamoyo (2), Ilala (1), Kinondoni (1) and Kisarawe (4) in Coast and Dar es Salaam regions o...
ABSTRACT Since the discovered of Campylobacter in 1913, is known to cause diseases in human. Investigations were done in broiler poultry by culture method, biochemical molecular technique followed by antimicrobial susceptibility of thermophilic Campylobacter sp in Morogoro Municipal, Tanzania. The objectives of the study were to establish prevalence of thermophilic Campylobacter by molecular and biochemical approach followed by antimicrobial susceptibility at each stage of broiler production...
ABSTRACT This was an experiment to determine the presence and level of expression of OsCIPK15 salt responsive gene in Tanzanian rice breeders’ lines. Abiotic stress is one of the factors affecting rice cultivation in Tanzania. The calcineurin B- like protein interacting protein kinases (OsCIPKs) responsive genes have been observed to express in abiotic stress. The calcineurin B- like protein interacting protein kinases-15 (OsCIPK15) salt responsive gene, which is usually a silent gene expr...
ABSTRACT Rapid and accurate diagnosis is paramount in understanding the infection status of foot and-mouth disease (FMD) virus (FMDV) in animals. In this study, the singleplex real time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) assay employing the Callahan 3DF-2, 3DF-R primers and Callahan 3DP-1 probe were used in screening for FMDV genome on esophageal– pharyngeal (OP) fluids. The OP samples were collected from cattle and African buffaloes in livestock-wildlife interface areas of Mikumi, Mkomazi and Ruaha Nationa...
ABSTRACT Mosquito-borne viruses primarily infect animals and humans causing significant public and veterinary health threat. Transmitted by hematophagous mosquitoes, dengue virus and Rift Valley fever virus are the most common outbreaks that occurred in parts of Tanzania especially in malaria endemic areas. Several studies reported the presence of the viruses in circulation in animals and humans. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the diversity of mosquito-borne virus vectors and to...