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Background - Animal diseases that are endemic like tsetse transmitted trypanosomosis cause the continuous expenditure of financial resources of livestock farmers and loss of productivity of livestock. Estimating the cost of controlling animal trypanosomosis can provide evidence for priority setting and targeting cost-effective control strategies.Methodology A cross-sectional survey to estimate the economic cost of bovine trypanosomosis was conducted in cattle-keeping communities living around Murchision falls National Park, in Buliisa district Uganda. Data was collected on herd structure, the cost of treatment and control, prevalence of morbidity and mortality rates due to trypanosomosis, and salvage sales losses in cattle herds in the last year.Results- In this study, 55.4% (n= 87) of the households reported their cattle had been affected by trypanosomosis during the previous last year. There was a high economic cost of trypanosomosis (USD 653) per household in cattle-keeping communities in Buliisa district of which 83% and 9% were due to mortality and milk loss respectively/ High mortality loss was due to low investment in treatment. The study showed that prophylactic treatment 3 times a year of the whole herd of cattle using Samorin ® (Isometamidium chloride) at a cost of USD 110 could drastically reduce cattle mortality loss due to trypanosomosis due to trypanosomosis with a return on investment of USD 540 annually per herd. This could be coupled with strategic restricted insecticide spraying of cattle with deltamethrin products.Conclusions. The results show a high economic cost of trypanosomosis in cattle-keeping communities in Buliisa district, with cattle mortality contributing the largest proportion of the economic cost. The high mortality loss was due to low investment in treatment of sick cattle

Background Bovine trypanosomosis transmitted by tsetse flies is a major constraint to cattle health and productivity in all sub-Saharan countries, including Uganda. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis and identify its associated risk factors and the species of trypanosomes associated with the disease. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted around Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda from January 2020 to April 2020. Trypanosomes were detected in blood samples by PCR analysis targeting the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-PCR assays), and trypanosomes in positive blood samples were sequenced. Results Of 460 blood samples collected and tested, 136 (29.6%) were positive for trypanosome infections and 324 (70.4%) were negative. The overall trypanosome prevalence was 29.6% (95% confidence interval 25.4–33.8%), attributed to three trypanosome species. Of these three species, Trypanosoma vivax was the most prevalent (n = 130, 28.3%) while the others were detected as mixed infections: T. vivax + Trypanosomacongolense (n = 2, 0.4%) and T. vivax + Trypanosomaevansi (n = 1, 0.2%). There were significant differences in trypanosome prevalence according to sex (χ2 = 62, df = 1, P χ2 = 6.28, df = 2, P = 0.0043) and cattle breed (χ2 = 10.61, df = 1, P = 0.001). Conclusions Trypanosomosis remains a major limitation to cattle production around Murchison Falls National Park and interventions are urgently needed. In our study, the prevalence of trypanosome infections was high, with T. vivax identified as the most prevalent species. Age, sex and breed of cattle were risk factors for trypanosome infection. Graphical Abstract

The public health burden of travel related diseases (TRDs) remains significant despite the fact that most can be avoided, particularly with the assistance of local tourist handlers such as Safari Tour Operators' (STOs). The STO's are the immediate close contact with tourist groups, and yet their perspectives regarding provision of travel health advice are unknown in Uganda. This study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge, attitude, and practices of STOs regarding TRDs in Uganda.A cross sectional study was carried out among selected STOs in Kampala and Wakiso Districts using self-administered questionnaires.The overall level of knowledge about travel health information was inadequate. Although 77.5% of the STOs were aware of some TRDs, the availability of travel health information or database in their organisations was not observed. Knowledge of the current TRDs in Uganda among the STOs was very low, with a few individuals mentioning yellow fever (9.7%), malaria (9.2%), cholera (9.2%), and HIV/AIDs (8.9%). Knowledge related to the sources of the travel health information was also low, with STOs (19.1%) and travel health clinics (14.9%) being mentioned as the main sources. The STOs had mostly positive attitude towards provision of travel health advice related to travellers, and all agreed that STOs should play a big role in the provision of travel health advice. First Aid and simple treatment options were mentioned as practices that STOs conducted to keep the travellers safe.While the STOs are motivated to do the right thing and provide their clients with sound travel health advice, they have a limited awareness of the actual TRDs in Uganda. The STOs must be educated on pertinent travel health advice, and intra-travel disease and injury management. The responsible government and non-governmental entities in Uganda need to develop educational materials emphasising the relevance of travel health advice.

A mixed method survey was conducted among pastoral and agro pastoral communities surrounding Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices about control of bovine trypanosomosis. A total of 96.8% (n = 152) of the participants had seen tsetse flies, and close to 91.7% (n = 116) of the participants had heard about bovine trypanosomosis. Bovine trypanosomosis was reported as a major disease in their area by about 73.9% (n = 116). There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the level of awareness and perception about tsetse and bovine trypanosomosis across the study sub counties. The majority of the farmers (60.5%) stated that grazing near national parks was the main cause of bovine trypanosomosis. A small proportion of farmers associated sharing grazing land and watering points with wildlife (19.1%) and grazing cattle in tsetse fly-infested areas (8.3%) as the causes of trypanosomosis. The communities in the study sub counties were aware of at least one or two clinical signs of bovine trypanosomosis. Spraying cattle with insecticide and avoiding grazing animals in tsetse-infested areas were the control practices. Curative trypanocides were mainly used to treat their cattle against trypanosomosis. Bush clearing, targets and traps as tsetse fly control measures were less practiced by the farmers. Treatment of cattle was based on observation of clinical signs due to absence of blood diagnostic facilities. Implementing regular tsetse fly population monitoring surveys and promotion of disease rapid diagnostic tools at farm level as long-term strategies are key for effective control of the disease.

Background: Bovine trypanosomosis transmitted by tsetse flies is a major constraint to cattle health and productivity in sub- Saharan countries including Uganda. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis and its associated risk factors and the species of trypanosomes associated with the disease.Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted around Murchision Falls National Park, Uganda from January 2020 to April 2020. Blood samples were collected from 460 cattle and were screened for trypanosomes using ITS-PCR. Results: From 460 samples collected, 136 (29.6%) of the samples were positive for trypanosomosis infections while 324 (70.4%) samples were negative. The overall trypanosome prevalence was 29.6% (95% CI 25.4-33.8). T. vivax (n = 130, 28.3%) was the most prevalent trypanosome specie detected and two mixed infection types (T.vivax + T. congolense (n = 2, 0.4%) and T.vivax + T. brucei (n = 1.0, 0.2%) were detected during the analysis. There was a significant difference when Trypanosome prevalence was compared with sex, age, breed of the sampled animals (P < 0.05 for sex), (P = 0.0043 for age) and (P = 0.001 for breed). Conclusion; Trypanosomosis is still a major limitation to cattle production around Murchision Falls National Park and interventions are urgently needed .The prevalence of trypanosomosis was high and T.vivax was identified as the major trypanosome species in the cattle herd.

Background: A survey was done among pastoral communities surrounding Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda to assess knowledge, attitude and practices about the control of bovine traypanosomosis. Methods: This was done using participatory methods and structured questionnaire.Results: The majority of the participants had ever seen tsetse flies and had ever heard about trypanosomosis with no significant difference (P > 0.05) across the five sub counties About 116 participants (73.9%) stated that trypanosomosis was a major disease in their area and across the five sub counties significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed. Farmers grazing near national parks and animals sharing grazing land and watering points with wild life respectively were considered the main causes of Bovine trypanosomosis. A significant difference (P < 0.01) in knowledge of farmers about the causes and signs of trypanosomosis in the study sub counties was observed. There was a high significant difference (P < 0.01) in control practices of trypanosomosis used in the study sub counties with the majority of farmers (58.6%) using insecticide treated cattle and significantly differed across the sub counties.Conclusion: The majority of participants had ever heard/seen tsetse flies and had ever heard about Nagana. Grazing near national parks and animal sharing grazing land and watering points with wildlife were the main causes of trypanosomosis. Insecticide treated cattle and not grazing in areas infested with tsetse flies were the major control practices of trypanosomosis. Knowledge about the disease, farmers’ attitude and control practices have overtime contributed to the pastoral communities and their cattle developing the needed resilience for survival in this high risk area.

Swimming pools have become major recreation facilities for leisure and sports in cities across the world, but the standard guidelines, particularly in developing countries, are not adhered to because little is known about the contaminants in the pools and the possible health risks involved. This study provides a survey of bacterial quality of water from swimming pools in Kampala. A total of 26 water samples were collected from 13 outdoor swimming pools in Kampala between January and June 2016 and analysed for total aerobic plate count (TPC), Escherichia coli, coliforms, and Salmonella. The heterotrophic bacterial load ranged between 0 and 6.35 × 105 cfu/ml, where 6.35 × 105 cfu/ml was the highest load and 3 × 101 cfu/ml the least. The highest average TPC was 6.19 × 105 cfu/ml and the lowest 5.07 × 103 cfu/ml. 30.8% of the pools had TPC within acceptable limits (≤5 × 102 cfu/ml), whereas 69.2% were highly contaminated and did not conform to the Uganda National Water and Sewerage Corporation standards of recreational water quality for both treated (0 cfu/100 mls) water and untreated (10 cfu/100 mls) water. Although no positive results were yielded for E. coli, coliforms, and Salmonella, TPC represented the presence of heterotrophic bacteria which are often indicated in opportunistic infections.

Objective: According to the United Nations, nearly 1.25 million people are killed and up to 50 million people are injured on the world’s roads every year. Uganda loses about 10 people daily to road...

Uganda has been exporting fish to the European Union and the United States since 1992, but occasionally faces bans on fish exports whenever it fails to process fish to international standards. This study compared the efficiency and quality of the currently used traditional “Bare ground” (BG) fish drying method to five newly constructed surfaces in drying Haplochromis sp. Five surfaces; Plastic palette fabric (PPF), Burnt clay brick (BCB), Popcorn concrete (PC), Screened concrete (SC) and Mass concrete (MC) were constructed within 7 days. Altogether, 24 racks of Haplochromines were used in the comparative study. Slight but insignificant (p > 0.05) differences in moisture loss were observed after day 3 of drying. Comparison of the drying surfaces based on microbial counts revealed considerable reduction in Total Plate Counts (TPC), Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. The TPC (cfu/ml) of microbes reduced most on PPF from 2.3 × 108 before drying to 6.0 × 107 after drying, followed by MC from 1.5 × 108 to 6.0 × 107 and PC from 1.0 × 108 to 2.0 × 107. The TPC however increaed significantly on BG from 1.8 × 108 to 4.0 × 108. The S. aureus counts only reduced on BCB, PPF, and PC, but increased on “BG”, SC, and MC. When fish body shape after drying was considered, BG emerged as the best drying surface producing the least curved fish. Although all the drying surfaces were equally efficient, BG had a worrying increase in TPC and S. aureus, implying PPF or MC could substitute its use to produce better quality fish.

Background: Climate change has been increasingly recognized as a global crisis with effects on gender roles. Recently, communities surrounding Lake Mburo national park, Uganda have been experiencing frequent severe droughts. It was against this background that this study was designed to understand effect of climate change on gender roles. Methods: This cross sectional study reviewed the effect of climate change on men and women’s gender roles using a pragmatic research paradigm based on a thematic review model using participatory methods and a structured questionnaire. Results: The study found that men and women’s gender roles were altered during extreme dryness. Men played their roles sequentially focusing on one single productive role, while women played their roles simultaneously, balancing the demands of each role with their limited available time. Effect of climate change variability affected productive roles more in Kiruhura district than Isingiro district. There was migration of both men and women in search for water and pasture livestock in Kiruhura district which distorted gender roles of women. Consequently, women and children had a heavier load and were the most people affected by climate change effects. Conclusion: Gender roles of communities surrounding Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda were affected and altered by the effects of climate change variability. Therefore, institutions offering climate services to local communities should consider gender in decision making, access to resources, information and knowledge.