One Health Outlook最新文献

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of animal and human health professionals towards rabies management and also to establish the level of relationship between KAP.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2012 and March 2013 among 147 randomly selected animal and human health professionals in Mbale District. Of these, only 16 were animal health professionals. Quantitative data was obtained using a semi-structured questionnaire while qualitative data was obtained from 4 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and 2 Key Informant (KI) interviews. Quantitative data was entered into EpiInfo version 3.5.1 and proportions computed while qualitative data was summarised into themes and sub-themes resulting from content analysis of interview scripts.

Findings: Of all the respondents, only 44% (65/147) had sufficient knowledge about rabies while 25% (37/147) had positive attitude towards rabies management. A half of the respondents (50%, 73/147) had limited good practices. Respondents knowledgeable about rabies were more likely to have positive attitude towards rabies management (OR = 3.65; 95% CI: 1.60-8.3) while respondents with positive attitudes, were more likely to have good practices towards rabies management (OR: 2.22; 95% CI: 1.01-4.86).

Conclusion: Respondents had low knowledge, negative attitude and limited good practices of rabies management. Regular refresher trainings about rabies to broaden staff knowledge and improve their attitudes and hence practices of rabies management should be conducted by the District leaders. Harnessing multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary collaborative efforts ("One Health" approach) for rabies control should be instituted to reduce the incidence of the disease in the District.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s42522-020-00031-6.

The interconnections of humans, domestic animals, wildlife and the environment have increasingly become complex, requiring innovative and collaborative approaches (One Health approach) for addressing global health challenges. One Health is a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral collaborative approach to human, animal, plant and environmental health. The role of academia in training professionals oriented in One Health is critical in building a global workforce capable of enhancing synergies of various sectors in improving health. Makerere University, Uganda has implemented pre-service capacity building initiatives aimed to foster One Health competencies among students who are future practitioners. In addition to incorporating the One Health concept in didactic curricula, Student One Health Innovation Clubs, undergraduate field placements in 11 demonstration sites, graduate fellowships, small grants to support research and innovations, and cross-college collaborative training approaches have greatly aided the assimilation of One Health into the fabric of university offerings. Partnerships with government ministries, private sector and international agencies were initiated to benefit the students, as well as chart a path for experiential learning and in-service offerings in the future. One major challenge, however, has been the tendency to focus on infectious diseases, especially zoonoses, with less consideration of other health issues. The opportunity for improvement, nonetheless, lies in the increasing emerging and re-emerging health concerns including epidemics, environmental pollution and related challenges which justify the need for countries and institutions to focus on building and strengthening multidisciplinary health systems.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among bacterial pathogens is a fast-growing public health concern. AMR in non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars (NTS) among food animals is of special concern as this may transmit resistant pathogens to humans during handling or consumption of animal products. In Nepal, the possibility of AMR Salmonella serovars among food animals is an important area of research, particularly in light of the rapidly growing poultry industry, lack of surveillance and proper biosecurity measures; and paucity of relevant data. This study was conducted with the aim to estimate the burden of NTS and associated antimicrobial resistance in the environments of commercial poultry farms and the poultry carcasses in slaughter house. This study also intends to find some basic knowledge of the poultry farmers and their practice relating to the use of antimicrobials, vaccination and biosecurity measures.

Methods: Taking one health approach, a cross-sectional study was carried out in Chitwan district of Nepal between May and October 2017. Various environmental samples viz. farm litter, feed, water, poultry faeces, vehicle swabs, farm swabs from 12 broiler poultry farms and various sections of poultry carcasses from 21 slaughter houses were aseptically collected. These were microbiologically assessed for the presence of NTS serovars and their phenotypic and genotypic indicators of antimicrobial resistance. The poultry farmers were also briefly interviewed regarding their basic biosecurity related knowledge and practices before collecting the environmental samples.

Results: Overall, of total environmental samples collected, 50% (31/62) tested positive for NTS serovars with environmental swabs (70%, 8/12) being the most culture positive sample types. Similarly, of 159 tissue samples collected from 24 carcasses, 79% (126/159) were culture positive for NTS serovars. Nearly 97% (153/157) of isolates showed antimicrobial resistance to tetracycline, while 11% (17/157) to ciprofloxacin and 5% (8/157) of isolates were resistant against azithromycin. All 157 isolates were sensitive to meropenem. In terms of AMR genes, tetA (83%, 131/157), QrnS (40%,64/157), mefA (8%, 13/157) and VIM-1 (0.6%, 1/157) were detected in the isolates that corresponded to the AMR to tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin and meropenem respectively. In farmers interview, only 42% (5/12) of farmers mentioned of using basic biosecurity measures such as applying lime powder around the farm; 84% (10/12) of farmers reported vaccinating their birds with some vaccine and 75% (9/12) of farmers used various antimicrobials prophylactically such as neomycin (33%, 4/12), colistin (33%, 4/12), furaltadone (33%, 4/12), doxycycline (25%, 3/12), sulfatrimethoprim (25%, 3/12) and tylosin (16%, 2/12).

Conclusions: This study revealed gross contamination of farm environment and subsequent

Background: This paper describes the result of workshops conducted to increase the knowledge and awareness of university students using a multidisciplinary, collaborative, multisectoral and trans-disciplinary approach concerning One Health and the indigenous people of peninsular Malaysia called the Orang Asli.

Methods: A non-experimental pre and post-test intervention study was carried out among medical, veterinary and allied health students from six public and private universities who attended workshops on One Heath in two Orang Asli communities living by the Temenggor lake in Malaysia as part of the Malaysia One Health University Network (MYOHUN) efforts in training future and present One Health workforce.

Results: There was a significant increase in various aspects of knowledge and interest concerning One Health and the Orang Asli. The mean knowledge scores of One Health (p < 0.001) and Orang Asli (p < 0.001) increased significantly post workshop. A repeated measures ANOVA with a Greenhouse-Geisser correction showed the mean scores of knowledge of One Health F (1, 166) = 127.198, p < 0.001) and Orang Asli F (1, 166) = 214.757, p < 0.001) differed statistically significantly between the two time points. The test revealed that the score differences for knowledge on One Health (mean difference = 1.796, p < 0.001) and Orang Asli (mean difference = 4.940, p < 0.001) were statistically significant. Repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant difference in the knowledge on Orang Asli between the students of different courses F (4,166) = 3.734, p-0.006. The difference in the One Health knowledge scores between the students of different courses was not statistically significant F (4,166) = 0.998, p = 0.410.

Conclusions: Emphasis on field training in relation to One health can provide university students greater levels of preparedness to combat zoonotic diseases.

Background: Antibiotic resistance is a major contributing factor to global morbidity and mortality and is associated with inappropriate medication use. However, the level of antibiotic consumption and knowledge about antibiotic resistance in Ghana is inadequately quantified. Our study identifies strategies for improved stewardship of antibiotics to prevent the proliferation of resistant pathogens by assessing the level of antibiotic knowledge, attitudes, and consumption behaviors by region, gender, age, and education in rural and urban Ghana.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 12 communities in the urban Greater Accra and rural Upper West regions of Ghana. A questionnaire survey was administered to 400 individuals aged 18 years and older in selected locations during September-October 2018 to collect data on individual knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. Multivariate analysis was used to investigate the association between demographic characteristics and knowledge, attitudes, and related behaviors.

Results: Over 30% (125/400) had not received a doctor's prescription during their last illness. Seventy percent (278/400) had taken at least one antibiotic in the year prior to the survey. The top five frequently used antibiotics were Amoxicillin, Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin, and Metronidazole. Women and older adults had higher knowledge compared to their respective counterparts (p < 0.01). Furthermore, prudent antibiotic use was significantly more prevalent in women than men (p < 0.05). Although no regional differences were found in overall knowledge, compared to urban residents, individuals residing in rural settings exhibited higher knowledge about the ineffectiveness of antibiotics for viruses like the cold and HIV/AIDS (p < 0.001). Two hundred and fifty-two (63%) respondents were unaware of antibiotic resistance. There was generally a low level of self-efficacy among participants regarding their role in preserving the effectiveness of antibiotics.

Conclusion: Antibiotic knowledge, attitudes, and use varied significantly across demographics, suggesting a context-specific approach to developing effective community interventions.

Background: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major cause of human hepatitis worldwide. Zoonotic genotypes of the virus have been found in diverse animal species with pigs playing a major role. Putative risk of zoonotic infection from livestock particularly swine in Sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana is poorly understood due to scarcity of available data, especially HEV sequence information.

Methods: Serum samples were collected from cattle, sheep, goats and pigs from Kumasi in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Samples were subjected to nested RT-PCR screening and quantification of HEV RNA-positive samples using real-time RT-PCR and the World Health Organization International Standard for HEV. Testing of all pig samples for antibodies was done by ELISA. Sanger sequencing and genotyping was performed and one representative complete genome was generated to facilitate genome-wide comparison to other available African HEV sequences by phylogenetic analysis.

Results: A total of 420 samples were available from cattle (n = 105), goats (n = 124), pigs (n = 89) and sheep (n = 102). HEV Viral RNA was detected only in pig samples (10.1%). The antibody detection rate in pigs was 77.5%, with positive samples from all sampling sites. Average viral load was 1 × 10⁵ (range 1.02 × 10³ to 3.17 × 10⁵) International Units per mL of serum with no statistically significant differences between age groups (≤ 6 month, > 6 months) by a T-test comparison of means (t = 1.4272, df = 7, p = 0.1966). Sequences obtained in this study form a monophyletic group within HEV genotype 3. Sequences from Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Madagascar were found to share a most recent common ancestor; however this was not the case for other African HEV sequences.

Conclusion: HEV genotype 3 is highly endemic in pigs in Ghana and likely poses a zoonotic risk to people exposed to pigs. HEV genotype 3 in Ghana shares a common origin with other virus strains from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Salmonellosis is one of the most common foodborne diseases worldwide. Although human infection by non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) enterica subspecies enterica is associated primarily with a self-limiting diarrhoeal illness, invasive bacterial infections (such as septicaemia, bacteraemia and meningitis) were also reported. Human outbreaks of NTS were reported in several countries all over the world including developing as well as high-income countries. Conventional laboratory methods such as pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) do not display adequate discrimination and have their limitations in epidemiological surveillance. It is therefore very crucial to use accurate, reliable and highly discriminative subtyping methods for epidemiological characterisation and outbreak investigation.

Methods: Here, we used different whole genome sequence (WGS)-based subtyping methods for retrospective investigation of two different outbreaks of Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Dublin that occurred in 2013 in UK and Ireland respectively.

Results: Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based cluster analysis of Salmonella Typhimurium genomes revealed well supported clades, that were concordant with epidemiologically defined outbreak and confirmed the source of outbreak is due to consumption of contaminated mayonnaise. SNP-analyses of Salmonella Dublin genomes confirmed the outbreak however the source of infection could not be determined. The core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) was discriminatory and separated the outbreak strains of Salmonella Dublin from the non-outbreak strains that were concordant with the epidemiological data however cgMLST could neither discriminate between the outbreak and non-outbreak strains of Salmonella Typhimurium nor confirm that contaminated mayonnaise is the source of infection, On the other hand, other WGS-based subtyping methods including multilocus sequence typing (MLST), ribosomal MLST (rMLST), whole genome MLST (wgMLST), clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs), prophage sequence profiling, antibiotic resistance profile and plasmid typing methods were less discriminatory and could not confirm the source of the outbreak.

Conclusions: Foodborne salmonellosis is an important concern for public health therefore, it is crucial to use accurate, reliable and highly discriminative subtyping methods for epidemiological surveillance and outbreak investigation. In this study, we showed that SNP-based analyses do not only have the ability to confirm the occurrence of the outbreak but also to provide definitive evidence of the source of the outbreak in real-time.

Foodborne viral infections rank among the top 5 causes of disease, with noroviruses and hepatitis A causing the greatest burden globally. Contamination of foods by infected food handlers or through environmental pollution are the main sources of foodborne illness, with a lesser role for consumption of products from infected animals. Viral partial genomic sequencing has been used for more than two decades to track foodborne outbreaks and whole genome or metagenomics next-generation-sequencing (NGS) are new additions to the toolbox of food microbiology laboratories. We discuss developments in the field of targeted and metagenomic NGS, with an emphasis on application in food virology, the challenges and possible solutions towards future routine application.

Background: Health surveillance is an important element of disease prevention, control, and management. During the past two decades, there have been several initiatives to integrate health surveillance systems using various mechanisms ranging from the integration of data sources to changing organizational structures and responses. The need for integration is caused by an increasing demand for joint data collection, use and preparedness for emerging infectious diseases.

Objective: To review the integration mechanisms in human and animal health surveillance systems and identify their contributions in strengthening surveillance systems attributes.

Method: The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 checklist. Peer-reviewed articles were searched from PubMed, HINARI, Web of Science, Science Direct and advanced Google search engines. The review included articles published in English from 1900 to 2018. The study selection considered all articles that used quantitative, qualitative or mixed research methods. Eligible articles were assessed independently for quality by two authors using the QualSyst Tool and relevant information including year of publication, field, continent, addressed attributes and integration mechanism were extracted.

Results: A total of 102 publications were identified and categorized into four pre-set integration mechanisms: interoperability (35), convergent integration (27), semantic consistency (21) and interconnectivity (19). Most integration mechanisms focused on sensitivity (44.1%), timeliness (41.2%), data quality (23.5%) and acceptability (17.6%) of the surveillance systems. Generally, the majority of the surveillance system integrations were centered on addressing infectious diseases and all hazards. The sensitivity of the integrated systems reported in these studies ranged from 63.9 to 100% (median = 79.6%, n = 16) and the rate of data quality improvement ranged from 73 to 95.4% (median = 87%, n = 4). The integrated systems were also shown improve timeliness where the recorded changes were reported to be ranging from 10 to 91% (median = 67.3%, n = 8).

Conclusion: Interoperability and semantic consistency are the common integration mechanisms in human and animal health surveillance systems. Surveillance system integration is a relatively new concept but has already been shown to enhance surveillance performance. More studies are needed to gain information on further surveillance attributes.