Salmonella spp and Escherichia coli are the two most important food-borne pathogens of public health interest incriminated in poultry meat worldwide. This study is to access their levels in frozen poultry meat obtained in Ibadan, Oyo State and compare those obtained from a commercial Nigerian-registered poultry company having a broiler-processing plant, Sayed Farms Ltd(R), with that obtained from retail stores. These retail stores source their products as illegal imports from neighboring Benin Republic or Togo because of a ban imposed by Government policy in Nigeria since July 2002 (USDA, GAIN report #NI2025:1-6, 2002).Microbiological Standards and Guidelines by USDA (National Agricultural library) (USDA 2011) and NCCLS guidelines (from Global Salm-Surv, 2003) were used during the research work. The study was approved by the Ethical Research Review Board (ERRB, Research Management Office 2011), University of Ibadan, Nigeria. A total of one hundred and fifty-two (152) frozen poultry meat samples comprising ninety-nine retail poultry (53 chicken and 46 turkey) and 53 chicken from the processing plant were accessed. ISO Standards catalogue 07.100.30 (2011) was used in accessing the levels of Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Enterobacteriaceae counts and Aerobic plate count. ISO 6579: 2002 was used for Salmonella isolation and ISO-16654:2001 for Escherichia coli isolation.There was a higher level of Aerobic plate counts and Enterobacteriaceae counts in frozen retail poultry meat than from the processing plant. Salmonella contamination from the ninety-nine poultry samples (53 chicken and 46 turkey) obtained from retail markets was at 33% [chicken 32.1% (17/53) and turkey 34.8% (16/46)] while Escherichia coli at 43.4% [chicken 47.2% (25/53) and turkey 39.1% (18/46)]. From the processing plant, twelve (12) Salmonella isolates were obtained and prevalence rate calculated as 22.6% while three (3) Escherichia coli isolates at 5.7% was obtained.Antibiotic sensitivity for isolates using eight different Gram-negative antibiotics showed different resistance patterns. Nitrofurantion and augmentin showed a decrease in their sensitivity to isolates than they normally should. Salmonella enterica spp. showed 93% resistance to tetracycline and 100% resistance to augmentin and amoxicillin, while Escherichia coli showed 100% resistance to augmentin and amoxicillin.

Despite a long history of dog-transmitted human rabies outbreaks in Liberia, West Africa, no reports exist of molecular characterisation of the causative lyssaviruses. This study investigated Rabies lyssavirus (RABV) strains isolated at the dog–human interface in Monrovia, Liberia 2016 and 2017, by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, using primers specific for the nucleoprotein (N) gene. Out of 20 specimens (19 dog brain samples and one human saliva) tested as suspected rabies cases, three (15%) were positive. Purified amplicons from all three positive specimens were sequenced in both forward and reverse directions. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted in MEGA7 and PhyML3 to determine their relationship with RABV sequences accessioned in NCBI GenBank. The first of three RABV strains detected clustered with China lineage 2 RABVs of dogs (99% homology to KU963489 and DQ666322). The second strain segregated with Africa lineage 2 RABVs also of dog origin, and the third strain segregated with Africa lineage 3 RABVs of Southern Africa viverrids. Our results show a transcontinental strain of rabies virus co-circulating with Africa lineages in post-conflict Liberia. This finding should stimulate more effective sub-regional planning and execution of one-health actions, towards stepwise surveillance and elimination of rabies in West Africa by 2030.

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This study was designed to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with foot-andmouth disease (FMD) seropositivity in north central, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was undertaken from February 2013 to April 2014 using 1206 sera from 150 herds collected by multi-stage and random sampling methods. Pre-tested questionnaire were also administered to participating farmers to collect information on the animal herd structure, movement pattern, management system and herds contact at watering points. Samples collected were tested for evidence of FMD antibodies using the 3ABC nonstructural antibodies enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The overall seroprevalence of FMD in North-Central Nigeria was found to be 70.98% (95% CI: 68.37-73.49). FMD seroprevalence was found to be higher in Niger State 85.4% (95% CI: 83.46-88.03) relative to Plateau State 54.2% (95% CI: 50.12-58.16), which was statistically associated with FMD seropositivity (P<0.05). Risk factors such as sex, management system, trans-boundary crossing and herd mixing at the watering point were found to be statistically associated with FMD seropositivity (p<0.05). This confirms that FMD is enzootic in the study area and control of foot and mouth disease in Nigeria using animal movement control and vaccination is therefore advocated.

Aim:This study aimed to determine the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotypes circulating, the prevalence of FMDV serotypes, and the spatial distribution of FMDV among sedentary and pastoral cattle herds in the North-Central Nigeria.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study was undertaken, during which a total of 155 sera that tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) 3ABC non-structural protein antibodies were selected and screened for FMD structural protein serotypes, A, O, SAT 1, and SAT 2 using a solid-phase competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Epithelial tissue specimens were collected during outbreak investigations which were tested for FMD using an antigen capture ELISA for serotype A, O, SAT 1, and SAT 2.Results:An overall serotype-specific prevalence of 79.35 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 72.4-85.18) was recorded for serotype O, 65.2% (95% CI: 57.41-72.3) for serotype A, 52.9% (95% CI: 45.03-60.67) for SAT 2, and 33.55% (95% CI: 26.45-41.26) for SAT 1. Evidence of exposure to multiple FMDV serotypes showed that 12.26% of the sera samples had antibodies against four serotypes circulating, 30.97% had antibodies against three serotypes circulating, 22.58% had antibodies against two serotypes, and 17% showed exposure to only one serotype. Clinical specimens (epithelial tissue) collected during outbreak investigations showed that serotype O has the highest proportion of 50% with serotype A - 25%; SAT 2 - 20.8%; and SAT 1 - 4.1%.Conclusion:The study detected diffuse and co-circulation of serotypes A, O, SAT 1, and SAT 2 within the study area, and hence the need for the appropriately matched multivalent vaccine is strongly advocated for FMD control in Nigeria.