Background: Rabies is a deadly preventable viral disease that affects all warm-blooded animals and widespread in many regions including Africa. The disease remains of major public health importance in Uganda. The purpose of this study was to establish Knowledge, Attitude, Practice (KAP) of Rabies in Moyo and Ntoroko districts and to characterize Rabies virus (RABV) strains from seven districts of Uganda with consistent prevalence of rabies. Methods: KAP survey data were collected based on animal biting history by interviewing the head of the veterinary departments, the medical centers and selected households from the study sites. Data were obtained from 84 households in Ntoroko and Moyo districts. Thirty-five (35) brain samples were collected from bovine, dogs, goats, foxes, jackals ad sheep between 2011 and 2013. Samples were tested using fluorescent antibody test (FAT), One step RT-PCR (following RNA extraction) and partial RABV N gene was sequenced by Sanger method before phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses of sequences. Results: Scarcity of post-exposure prophylaxis services in the health centers was noted. Poor attitude of wound washing and deficiency of knowledge on how to handle wounds related to dog bites and the significance among household participants lacked. There is a high risk of rabies infection due to a limited dog's vaccination. Dog biting episodes in humans were of 75.00 and 62.50% in Moyo and Ntoroko districts respectively. Twenty-seven (27) samples tested positive for rabies by FAT and PCR. Ugandan sequences were closely related (97% nucleotide id) to the rabies virus sequences from Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Sudan with both the "Africa 1A" and "Africa 1B" RABV clades represented. A putative new clade 1D was also detected.

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Background In Uganda, data regarding rabies outbreaks are acquired through passive surveillance. However, this surveillance system is associated with challenges such as limited case reporting and logistical gaps, leading to reduced sample submission for the positive diagnostic to the national reference veterinary laboratory. Although the dog is a main transmitter of rabies virus in low- and medium-income countries, wildlife reservoirs (e.g., mongoose, jackals, foxes) can potentially spread the virus to livestock and human populations in Uganda. The present study aims to evaluate rabies virus circulation in livestock, domestic dogs, and wild carnivores, and to identify the distribution of positive cases following rabies outbreaks from 2015-2022 in Uganda. Methods Seventy-three (73) brain specimens from suspected rabies cases in livestock, domestic animals, and wild carnivores from different districts of Uganda were submitted to the National Animal Disease Diagnostics and Epidemiology Center for testing and analysis. Samples were subjected to two tests: the rapid rabies antigen detection test and the direct fluorescent antibody test, which is the gold standard for rabies diagnosis. Results Out of 73 samples, 50 tested positive (68.5%). Dogs were the species displaying the globally highest positivity (42%), followed by cattle (24%), goats (20%), and wild carnivores (10%). Of the 21 dogs tested, 15 were stray dogs (30%). Most of the cases were found in the Busia district (14%), followed by Arua district (10%) and Mukono district (10%). Our data demonstrated that the rabies virus is actively circulating in domestic and wild animal populations in several regions of Uganda and remains a high risk to human and animal health. Conclusions The correlation found between the number of samples submitted and the number of positive results shows the accuracy (more than one in two cases) of the diagnosis of suspected rabies in the animals sampled. Robust and widely implementable One Health surveillance systems are required to detect and control the spread of zoonotic infectious diseases. Encouragement of the concerned actors to use efficient diagnostic technology coupled with a rapid field response is needed to improve the surveillance of deadly zoonosis such as rabies.

Background: Foot and Mouth disease is a notifiable trans-boundary disease, which is endemic in a large area of Sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda. Recently, the disease has emerged from new areas, with high impact, hence threatening the food security and livelihoods of different animal owners. This study described the temporal and spatial distribution of FMD in Uganda, and factors associated with its occurrence Methods: Data previously archived at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) in Uganda, from 2010 to 2021, were analyzed using Microsoft Excel, QGIS and R software Results: A total of 22,690 FMD cases were reported in Uganda between 2010 and 2021 with an average and median of 1169 and 37 outbreaks per year respectively. In this period, FMD was reported at least once in 58 districts (43%) of all districts of the country (n = 135). The occurrence of FMD outbreaks was found to be seasonal with peak outbreaks in November and a low in August. FMD was reported all over the country, with the majority of cases 45% (10,211) reported from Eastern, 38% (8,685) from western region, 6% (1,354) from northern region and 11% (2,440) from central region. Most FMD cases were reported during the dry month of November, January, and February. Conclusion: FMD occurred in all the four regions of the country and showed statistically significant decrease in the long-term trend. Numbers of outbreaks were relatively higher during dry season. The spatial and temporal distribution identified in this study should be considered in controlling the disease. As unregulated and frequent animal movements are the likely causes of high outbreak occurrence during the dry season, animal movement regulations should be considered for the long-term control of FMD. Recommendation: Strategic vaccination of animals should commence at least a month prior to the onset dry season to ensure immunity against the virus, together with restrictions on animal movements during dry season and farmers have to be aware about the risk of unrestricted animal movement.

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