Commercial poultry farms (n° 523), located in all the six regions of Nigeria were sampled with a view to generate baseline information about the distribution of Salmonella serovars in this country. Five different matrices (litter, dust, faeces, feed and water) were collected from each visited farm. Salmonella was isolated from at least one of the five matrices in 228 farms, with a farm prevalence of 43.6% (CI95[39.7–48.3%]). Altogether, 370 of 2615 samples collected (14.1%, CI95[12.8; 15.5%]) contained Salmonella. Considering the number of positive farms and the number of positive samples, it was evident that for the majority of the sampled farms, few samples were positive for Salmonella. With regard to the matrices, there was no difference in Salmonella prevalence among the five matrices considered. Of the 370 isolates serotyped, eighty-two different serotypes were identified and Salmonella Kentucky was identified as having the highest isolation rate in all the matrices sampled (16.2%), followed by S. Poona and S. Elisabethville. S. Kentucky was distributed across the country, whereas the other less frequent serovars had a more circumscribed diffusion. This is one of few comprehensive studies on the occurrence and distribution of Salmonella in commercial chicken layer farms from all the six regions of Nigeria. The relatively high prevalence rate documented in this study may be attributed to the generally poor infrastructure and low biosecurity measures in controlling stray animals, rodents and humans. Data collected could be valuable for instituting effective intervention strategies for Salmonella control in Nigeria and also in other developing countries with a similar poultry industry structure, with the final aim of reducing Salmonella spread in animals and ultimately in humans.

Nigeria, with a population of over 190 million people, is rated among the 10 countries with the highest burden of infectious and zoonotic diseases globally. In Nigeria, there exist a sub-optimal surveillance system to monitor and track priority zoonoses. We therefore conducted a prioritization of zoonotic diseases for the first time in Nigeria to guide prevention and control efforts. Towards this, a two-day in-country consultative meeting involving experts from the human, animal, and environmental health backgrounds prioritized zoonotic diseases using a modified semi-quantitative One Health Zoonotic Disease Prioritization tool in July 2017. Overall, 36 of 52 previously selected zoonoses were identified for prioritization. Five selection criteria were used to arrive at the relative importance of prioritized diseases based on their weighted score. Overall, this zoonotic disease prioritization process marks the first major step of bringing together experts from the human-animal-environment health spectrum in Nigeria. Importantly, the country ranked rabies, avian influenza, Ebola Virus Disease, swine influenza and anthrax as the first five priority zoonoses in Nigeria. Finally, this One Health approach to prioritizing important zoonoses is a step that will help to guide future tracking and monitoring of diseases of grave public health importance in Nigeria.

This study highlights the genetic diversity of Campylobacter strains in Nigeria, demonstrating that Camp. jejuni and Camp. coli isolates are diverse and have both local and global strains. The predominant sequence types and clonal complexes found in this study differ from other countries; this exemplifies that different predominant Campylobacter populations exist between countries.

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Prevalence and molecular identification of Campylobacter species isolates from poultry and humans were conducted using culture, biochemical reaction and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques. A total of 798 (506 poultry and 292 human) samples were identified biochemically, out of which 312(39.1%) were positive for Campylobacter species. Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli and C. lari had 38 (23.8%) out of 160, 63(39.4%) out of 160, 59(36.9%) out of 160 prevalence rates, respectively in humans while 29(19.1%) out of 152, 79(52.0%) out of 152 and 44(28.9%) out of 152 were the rates for the species in the same order in poultry. Campylobacter isolates were kept at -20 o C in 15% glycerol and 85% tryptone broth until used while some were identified 24hrs post isolation. Single and multiplex PCR were used to confirm the genus Campylobacter and three Campylobacter species, respectively. All the 130(100 stored and 30 fresh) isolates were members of the genus Campylobacter. The single PCR band view of stored isolates also revealed other bands in addition to 439 bp which is specific for the genus Campylobacter, while the fresh isolates had distinct bands at 439bp only. Multiplex PCR revealed 2(6.7%) out of 30 were positive for stored isolates out of 30, 1(50%) each for C. jejuni and C. Coli. However, 1 of the stored isolate was positive for both spp. On the other hand, 6(20.0%) of out 60 fresh isolates were positive, with 5(83.3%) and 1(16.7%) for C. jejuni and C. coli, respectively. The possibilities of improper identification using conventional method have been revealed in the study. PCR can identify Campylobacter species more accurately than biochemical method, though storage of isolates, integrity of extracted DNA and PCR conditions can affect result. However, the use of both methods should be encouraged in regular and effective surveillance of Campylobacter species in poultry and humans.