A large number of pregnant women had acute/recent rubella virus infections at the time of data collection, indicating that the virus is endemic in the study area. More than a tenth of pregnant women were found to be susceptible to acquiring the infection in future pregnancies, with the possible risk of rubella-associated congenital anomalies. Hence screening of all women of child-bearing age before conception and during pregnancy might reduce the devastating effects of the virus on the developing fetus.

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A study was conducted at Kafta Humera and Tanqua Abergelle Districts from April to June, 2011 to assess the prevalence of subclinical mastitis in lactating small ruminants and identify bacterial causative agents. A total of 390 lactating animals comprising 255 goats and 135 sheep were randomly selected from population and screened for evidence of subclinical mastitis. The overall prevalence of subclinical mastitis was found to be 18.03% (46/255) and 28.14% (38/135) in goats and sheep, respectively. California mastitis test (CMT) positive milk samples were subjected to bacteriological examination and the following bacteria were isolated; coagulase negative Staphylococcus (44.7%), Staphylococcus aureus (27.7%), Escherchia coli (17.0%) and streptococci (10.63%). Risk factors; species (p = 0.021), study site (p < 0.001), sheep breed (p = 0.018) and goat breed (p = 0.009) showed statistically significant association with the occurrence of subclinical mastitis in small dairy ruminants. However, there was no statistically significant association between risk factors such as Age (p = 0.779), parity (p = 0.201) and stage of lactation (p = 0.952). Therefore, it can be concluded that mastitis is a significant disease in small ruminants that affects their productivity and measures need to be taken to control the disease.

BackgroundBovine tuberculosis (BTB) and bovine brucellosis are two important milk-borne zoonoses that have been shown to be prevalent to various degrees in Ethiopian cattle.The study was carried out in four Woredas (districts) around Asella town, Arsi Zone between October 2011 and March 2012 and included 318 small-holders in 13 dairy cooperatives that marketed the delivered milk. The aims of the study were i) to assess the prevalence of the two diseases in cattle in a cross-sectional study, ii) to assess potential risk factors of BTB and brucellosis to humans as well as the knowledge-attitude-practice (KAP) among these farmers towards these diseases.ResultsBTB testing using the comparative intradermal skin test (CIDT) was done on 584 milking cows, out of which 417 were serologically tested for brucellosis using the Rose Bengal Plate Test and reactors confirmed with an indirect ELISA test (PrioCHECK®). The individual animal prevalence was 0.3% (95% CI 0.1% to 1.3%) for BTB, 1.7% (95% CI 0.8% to 3.5%) for brucellosis and 8.9% (95% CI 6.8% to 11.5%) for MAC (Mycobacterium avium complex). Of the 13 milk cooperatives, two had at least one positive BTB reactor and five had animals positive for brucellosis.Cross-breeds accounted for 100% and 71.4% of the BTB and brucellosis reactors respectively. For both diseases, there were prevalence variations depending on Woreda. No animal was concomitant reactor for BTB and brucellosis.Raw milk was consumed by 55.4% of the respondents. 79.2% of the respondents reported touching the afterbirth with bare hands. The latter was fed to dogs in 83% of the households. One cow among the herds of the 130 interviewees had aborted in the last 12 months. Among the interviewees, 77% stated knowing tuberculosis in general but 42 out of the 130 respondents (32.3%) did not know that BTB was transmitted by livestock. Less than half (47.7%) of the respondents knew about brucellosis.ConclusionsLow prevalence of both diseases reflected the potential for the area to compete with the growing milk demand. The authors discussed the possible control strategies for the area.

State, Central Ethiopia in four selected study area to investigate the prevalence, burden of helminths, and to asses associated risk factors. A total of 326 fecal samples were used for qualitative and quantitative coprological examination. The overall prevalence was 61% of gastrointestinal (GI) helminths and the prevalent helminthes eggs identified were Strongyle type egg (41%), Fasciola (36.5%), Paraphostomum (18.4%), Toxocara (7.7%), Trichuris (5.2%), and Monezia (2.8%). This result indicated the highest prevalence of Strongyle type eggs than other helminths egg and the lowest prevalence of Monezia egg. Out of 61% of infected animals 9.5% of prevalence was recorded in an animal having history of anthelmintic treatment while the rest 51.5% was recorded in the animal having no history of anthelmintic treatment. The 30.9% of animals were found to be infected with more than one helminths parasite. There was higher mean eggs per gram (EPG) in animals >7 years of age group, followed by animals <2 and 2 to 6 years age group. But no significant difference was observed among age groups except Trichuris (P = 0.006) that is high in animals <2 years of age and lower in animals 2 to 6 years of age. The occurrence of many GI helminths was found relatively higher in males than females. But there was no significant difference observed between sexes with exception of Trichuris that was higher in males. The mean burden of Strongyle and total EPG was found significant (P=0.00) among animals of different body condition. Finally, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were forwarded.