Activities

Diseases

Beef measles

Caused by Taenia saginata, it is a zoonosis that causes few or no clinical symptoms in humans, but greatly reduces the value of infected beef meat and decreases the commercialisation opportunities for small holder farmers where the disease is endemic.

Brucellosis

It is one of the most common global zoonoses. Caused by bacteria of the genus Brucella, the main clinical signs in animals are abortion and infertility. In humans usually produces a chronic disease that requires prolonged treatment and is fatal in 1-5% of untreated cases.

Fowlpox

Virus of the family Poxviridae

Viral disease affecting poultry and many other birds. It spreads slowly and is characterised by the formation of sores and scabs on the skin, and sores in the upper parts of the digestive and respiratory tracts.

Hydatid disease

Caused by Echinococcus granulosus, a parasite of dogs and other canids that has sheep and other animals as intermediate hosts. In humans it causes Cystic Echinococcosis, that usually manifests as cysts in the liver and lungs.

Newcastle Disease

Virus of the family Paramyxoviridae APMV-1

It is a highly contagious disease in many species of domestic, exotic and wild birds. It can cause up to 100% mortality in non-vaccinated birds, and is the most common cause of mortality in village poultry.

Porcine cysticercosis

Caused by Taenia solium, it is a zoonosis and the most frequent preventable cause of epilepsy in the developing world. Endemic in many countries of the developing world in which pigs are raised free-roaming and sanitation is not adequate.

Rift Valley Fever

It is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes and potentially other competent vectors. It affects sheep, goats, cattle and other animals. In humans it cases influenza like disease, but occasionally can produce central nervous system complications and death.

Rabies

Rabies, caused by a virus of the genus Lyssavirus, is one of the most important zoonoses. It is estimated to cause up to 70,000 human deaths per year, mostly children in rural areas. More than 95% of the human deaths due to rabies occur in Africa and Asia.

Name:	Cattle cysticercosis, beef measles
Causative agent:	Parasite - Taenia saginata
Animals affected:	Cattle
Zoonotic:	Yes - but has minor impact on human health.
Distribution:	The disease occurs in many parts of the world but is most common where people eat raw beef meat and where human sewage contaminates cattle grazing pastures.
Description:	The life cycle of Taenia saginata involves two hosts: Humans are infected with the mature tapeworm, and cattle which are infected with the larval stage (cysticercus). Humans with the tapeworm release parasite eggs to the environment in their faeces, and when the eggs are eaten by the cattle, they develop cysticerci in meat. When humans consume beef containing cysticerci which has not been adequately cooked, it leads to a new tapeworm infection and the life cycle is completed.
Impact:	Humans: Taeniasis due to T. saginata causes few or no clinical symptoms in humans even if the parasite can grow over 10 meters. Every year more than 15 million people worldwide receive a post-exposure vaccination to prevent the disease - this is estimated to prevent hundreds of thousands of rabies deaths annually. Cattle: Measles in beef are a key limitation for small and medium community cattle owners to enter the formal meat industry including selling their animals to feed lot or commercial farms. Economic Impact: (examples) · Detection of infections in beef meat causes economic loss due to decreased price and carcass condemnation, and is relatively common in places like Southern Africa. Meat is either condemned as either unfit for human consumption or it must be frozen for a time to kill the parasite, dropping the price of the meat by 15-20%. · In Botswana, the prevalence of measles is growing at an alarming rate from 10-12 per cent around in 2006 to 18-20 per cent to date, which represents around P60 million in lost foreign earning. · In Eastern Cape, it has been reported that it 2003, 11% of the animals slaughtered in the East London abattoir were infected with T. saginata.
Prevention and control:	Several disease control measures are available including improving community sanitation and education. A cattle vaccine has been developed but it is not commercially available.
INAND involvement:	Facilitate the deployment of the sustainable and effective control measures to reduce transmission of T. saginata and increase the market opportunities for small holder farmers.

Name:	Brucellosis
Causative agent:	Brucella melitensis (sheep and goats) & Brucella abortus (cattle)
Animals affected:	· Brucella melitensis predominantly affects sheep and goats but can also cause disease in other mammal species. · Brucella abortus affects mainly cattle, but other livestock and wild animals can be infected, with varying susceptibility.
Zoonotic:	Yes. B melitensis is the type most frequently associated with human cases, causing Malta fever (also called Mediterranean or undulant fever) and it is one of the most important zoonoses. Brucellosis in humans is also caused by B. abortus and B. suis, resulting in a disease very similar to the one caused by B. melitensis.
Distribution:	Brucellosis is widespread worldwide and endemic in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, some countries of Latin America, the Middle East and the Mediterranean countries. It is a major problem in low income countries.
Description:	· In animals, brucellosis causes abortion, stillbirth, placental retention and reduced milk yields in females. Males may develop orchitis (inflamed testes). Hygromas (swollen joints) are sometimes observed in chronic infections. It is highly contagious and is spread through contact with aborted foetuses, vaginal fluids, placenta and milk. · In humans, consumption of raw milk and cheese made from raw milk is the major source of infection. It is also transmitted by direct contact with infected animals, animal carcasses and aborted material. It causes a flu-like febrile syndrome including intermittent and relapsing fever, body aches, joint pain, weakness, headache, weight loss and cough. The disease is generally chronic with different levels of severity.
Impact:	Humans: Worldwide millions of humans are at risk, especially in developing countries where the infection in animals has not been brought under control, heat treatment procedures of milk are not routinely applied, and food habits such as the consumption of raw milk and poor hygienic conditions favour human infection. In Africa it is estimated that over 85% of goat's milk is consumed unpasteurized. In humans usually produces a grave and debilitating disease that may become chronic and requires prolonged treatment. It is fatal in 1-5% of untreated cases. Livestock production: Losses are caused by abortion and later permanently reduced fertility and chronically lowered milk yields in affected animals. In Africa it is estimated to reduce production by 8% per annum. Bovine brucellosis results in economic losses of about 5.8 % per animal reared, in areas where the infection rate in females is 30%. Economic Impact: (examples) · In Uganda it was estimated that 12.6% of informally marketed milk in urban Kampala was contaminated, and the annual incidence rate: 5.8 per 10,000 people. · It has important social costs due to human differential diagnostics and treatment, and important economic consequences due to the losses in livestock and the cost of the implementation of preventive and control measures in animals.
Prevention and control:	Animals cannot be treated against brucellosis. Young animals can be vaccinated against B. abortus and B. melitensis. Livestock vaccination reduces abortions and the risk of transmission to humans but fails to eliminate the disease. Complete elimination at the moment can only be achieved through a strict and long-lasting test-and-slaughter scheme. Such schemes are expensive because they require compensations for the animals that are slaughtered.
INAND involvement:	Facilitate the implementation of effective control measures to reduce the incidence of brucellosis.

Name:	Fowlpox (FP)
Causative agent:	Virus of the family Poxviridae (Genus Avipoxvirus)
Animals affected:	FP affects domestic poultry and many other birds
Zoonotic:	No
Distribution:	Worldwide
Description:	It spreads slowly, and is characterised by the formation of sores and scabs on the skin, and sores in the upper parts of the digestive and respiratory tracts. · In the case of the skin form, the death rate is usually low and affected birds are more likely to recover than those with the sores in the throat. The sores vary according to the stage of development and are usually in the region of the head. · In the diphtheritic form, proliferative sores involving the nasal passages, larynx or trachea can result in difficulty in breathing and death from suffocation. FP causes a drop in egg production for short periods and a reduced growth rate in young birds
Impact:	· FP is one of the most economic important disease affecting chickens. In susceptible flock death rate may be up to 60% particularly if the mouth and throat are affected, otherwise disease results in poor growth rate and drop in egg production. · Experience in Tanzania and elsewhere has shown that there has been increase of FP in village chickens particularly in the areas where Newcastle Disease has been controlled. This has massive knock-on economic effects linked to loss of eggs, reduced growth rates and live chickens available for slaughter or sale. Therefore, the control of FP is necessary to increase productivity of poultry particularly village chickens.
Prevention and control:	There is no treatment for FP. Vaccination with live vaccines has long been used for the control of the disease in the poultry industry and economic losses have been minimized. Commercial vaccines are not in a format suitable for backyard farmers (large number of doses per vial or very susceptible to high temperatures). Also the nature of village chickens has made it difficult to use the commercial vaccines because of multi-age flocks, and the wing web stab method of vaccination is difficult to use in rural areas constrained by livestock field extension officers.
INAND involvement:	Facilitate the development and sustainable deployment of effective control.

Name:	Hydatid disease
Causative agent:	Parasite - Echinococcus granulosus
Animals affected:	Definitive host: Dog and other canids Intermediate hosts: sheep, goats, camels, cattle, kangaroos and others
Zoonotic:	Yes, causes cystic echinococcosis (CE) Included in the WHO list of Neglected Tropical Diseases
Distribution:	Transmission is most intense in communities where pastoral activities predominate and veterinary services are limited, and where offal from slaughtered animals is accessible to dogs. Highly endemic areas are mostly found in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region, northern Africa, middle East, southern and Eastern Europe, at the southern tip of South America, in Central Asia, Siberia and western China. It is considered an emerging disease in various regions, e.g. the Middle East, central Asia and northern and eastern Africa.
Description:	The parasite is host-specific with respect to its definitive hosts (dogs and other canids) which harbour the sexually reproducing tapeworm parasite. Infective tapeworm eggs are released with the faeces, contaminating the environment. Many herbivorous and omnivorous species may be infected as intermediate hosts, after they accidentally eat the eggs and the parasite invades the hosts' tissues and develops into larval stages, most commonly in the liver and lungs. When the offal containing the cysts is eaten by dogs or other canids, they develop the mature parasite completing the cycle. Humans are accidental intermediate hosts through the ingestion of items contaminated with parasite eggs, including contaminated food, water or thorough direct contact with canine hosts.
Impact:	Humans: · Cystic echinococcosis (CE) in humans manifests as fluid-filled parasitic cysts occurring predominantly in the liver and lungs, although the cysts may occur in any body organ. Commonly, growth of a cyst interferes with the functions of the organ involved, and causes pain. Rupture of the cysts may cause anaphylaxis and death. CE is expensive and complicated to treat, often requiring extensive surgery (2.2% post-operative death rate and 6.5% cases relapsing), and/or prolonged drug therapy which is very difficult in remote areas. · According to the WHO, more than 1 million people are affected with echinococcosis at any one time (WHO, 2014). Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) resulting from human CE, are estimated at 1,009,662 DALYs. · In endemic regions, human incidence rates for CE can reach greater than 50 per 100,000 population, and prevalence as high as 5-10% may occur in parts of East Africa, Argentina, Central Asia, China and Peru. Sheep and other animals: · Offal condemnation; potentially causes a reduction in productivity (incompletely defined). Economic Impact: (examples) · The annual costs associated with CE are estimated to be US$ 3 billion, which includes costs for treating cases and losses to the livestock industry.
Prevention and control:	CE is a preventable disease. Periodic deworming of dogs, preventing dogs from feeding on carcasses of infected animals, control of stray dog populations, improved hygiene in the slaughtering of livestock (including proper destruction of infected offal), and public education campaigns have been found to lower and, in high income countries, prevent transmission of the disease. However, in spite of efforts to control transmission of E. granulosus in many parts of the world, the disease remains prevalent in humans throughout many regions. There remains an urgent need for new CE control activities and the implementation of improved methods for control for example including vaccination of intermediate hosts, particularly sheep.
INAND involvement:	Facilitate the deployment of the sustainable and effective control measures to reduce transmission of E. granulosus and reduce the incidence of cystic echinococcosis in humans.

Name:	Newcastle Disease (ND)
Causative agent:	Virus of the family Paramyxoviridae (Genus Avulavirus) APMV-1
Animals affected:	Domestic poultry and wild birds
Zoonotic:	A mild form of disease can affect people, causing headaches, flu-like symptoms and mild conjunctivitis, but it is not a serious threat to human health.
Distribution:	Strains of the virus are present in most countries
Description:	It is a highly contagious disease in many species of domestic, exotic and wild birds. Clinical signs depend on the strain of the virus and the age and health of the bird. There are several strains producing broad clinical syndromes: · Lentogenic or mild: produces mild or subclinical respiratory infection; no nervous signs occur and death rates are usually negligible. · Mesogenic or moderate: produces mainly respiratory signs. Nervous signs may develop late in the course of the disease and death rates are low (about 10%). · Velogenic or very virulent: in domestic poultry, virulent strains produce a rapidly fatal, high-mortality condition characterised by gastrointestinal, respiratory and/or nervous signs. In other avian species, the disease produced by virulent ND viruses ranges clinically from inapparent to a rapidly fatal condition. Death rates can go up to 100%.
Impact:	Poultry production: Morbidity and mortality can vary depending on the strain and virulence, type of bird, age and susceptibility of the bird. Some types of birds show few or no signs, and carrier state may exist. · Morbidity: Up to 100% · Mortality: 100% Economic Impact: · The global economic impact of virulent ND (vND) is enormous. It affects commercial farmers around the world, and also backyard production. · Backyard poultry production is around 70% of the poultry stocks in many developing countries. Backyard poultry are usually owned by women or children, and provide a significant portion of protein (eggs or meat), and they are used to raise money to cover family needs like school fees and medicines. Poultry has also a valuable social and religious aspect as they are also used as gifts, dowry and are essential for many religious festivals or ceremonies. · The direct and indirect cost of ND to the livelihood of millions of rural households is enormous, certainly in the hundreds of millions of US dollars.
Prevention and control:	Vaccination is routinely practiced worldwide, and it is highly effective. It reduces the clinical signs, but does not prevent the virus from multiplying or shedding. Commercial vaccines do exist, but usually they are not in a format suitable for backyard farmers (large number of doses per vial or very susceptible to high temperatures). In recent years, vaccines have been developed in more appropriate formats, but they still don't reach poor and/or remote communities in a sustainable manner.
INAND involvement:	Facilitate the sustainable deployment of effective control measures to reduce poultry mortality due to ND.