African swine fever (ASF) has had significant economic and social impact in Nigeria since 1997. However, there has been no effective national response to bring it under control. In this report, we confirm that ASF is still prevalent and widespread in Nigeria. Results from both serosurveillance and virological analyses indicated that ASF is present in most of the agro-ecological zones of the country. Nine per cent (9%) of serum samples and 48% of tissue samples were positive for ASF virus antibody and genome, respectively. Areas with high pig-related activities (marketing, consumption and farming) have higher prevalences compared with areas with less pig activities. Farm-gate buyers, marketing systems and transport of untested pigs within the country assist with the circulation of the virus. Only by putting in place a comprehensive routine surveillance and testing system, reorganizing the market and transportation systems for pigs, implementing on-farm bio-security protocols and considering the option of compensation will it be possible to achieve a significant reduction in ASF prevalence in Nigeria.

SummaryAfrican swine fever remains the greatest limitation to the development of the pig industry in Africa, and parts of Asia and Europe. It is especially important in West and Central African countries where the disease has become endemic. Biosecurity is the implementation of a set of measures that reduce the risk of infection through segregation, cleaning and disinfection. Using a 122-sow piggery unit, a financial model and costing were used to estimate the economic benefits of effective biosecurity against African swine fever. The outcomes suggests that pig production is a profitable venture that can generate a profit of approximately US$109,637.40 per annum and that an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) has the potential to cause losses of up to US$910,836.70 in a single year. The implementation of biosecurity and its effective monitoring can prevent losses due to ASF and is calculated to give a benefit cost ratio of 29. A full implementation of biosecurity will result in a 9.70% reduction in total annual profit, but is justified in view of the substantial costs incurred in the event of an ASF outbreak. Biosecurity implementation is robust and capable of withstanding changes in input costs including moderate feed price increases, higher management costs and marginal reductions in total outputs. It is concluded that biosecurity is a key to successful pig production in an endemic situation.

Zoonoses are common infections when there is close contact between humans and animals. In Nigeria, where safety at work is poorly regulated and enforced, most workers do whatever they consider appropriate safe work place practices. Thus, 263 abattoir workers across five North Central (NC) states in Nigeria were evaluated on their knowledge of leptospirosis, work place attitudinal practices and other risks that could favor spread of Leptospira among them. Findings showed that most workers 252 (95.8%) were ignorant of leptospirosis. Other identified risk factors for infection included age of workers, occupation, illiteracy and risks within, such as inadequate protective gear and outside the workplace, such as rodents in homes. All these factors gave a prevalence of 226 (89.7%) Leptospira antibodies in the abattoir workers which they probably contracted through un-mindful handling of infected animal fluids and tissues. Surveys of Knowledge, Attitudes, Risk Factors and Practices (KARP) is a common strategy for collecting information to assess safe work environments among high risk populations and is a good starting point for prevention and control programs for individuals at risk of infection by zoonotic agents, especially Nigerian abattoir workers.

TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractDirect viscosity measurements are often expensive or unavailable. Therefore, empirical correlations are often used for predicting the viscosity of crude oils. However, several published correlations are either too simplistic or too complex for routine operational use. Many of the common correlations in use were developed using data from other regions of the world.Empirical correlations for predicting the viscosity of light crude oils in the Niger Delta have been presented in this paper.Data from over 400 oil reservoirs from the Niger Delta were collected. The samples were representative of the two crude oil viscosity regimes: above and below the bubble point. After normal quality checks, non-linear multiple regression with linear partial correlation coefficient techniques were used to establish simple correlations between viscosity, pressure, temperature, oil specific gravity and solution gas oil ratio.Statistical error analysis of the developed correlation showed average absolute relative percentage error of 4.00% and 3.25% and R 2 of 0.99 and 0.97 for oil viscosity above and below the bubble point respectively. These results constitute considerable improvements over existing correlations.

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In vitro In hi bition of Mycobncterium smegmntis and Mycobncterium tuhercu1o.si.

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