Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the major trans-boundary animal diseases in East Africa causing economic loss to farmers and other stakeholders in the livestock industry. Foot-and-mouth disease occurs widely in both Uganda and Tanzania with annual outbreaks recorded. With the recent introduction of the Progressive Control Pathway for FMD control (PCP-FMD) in eastern Africa, knowledge of the spatial and temporal distribution of FMD at the border area between Uganda and Tanzania is helpful in framing engagement with the initial stages of the PCP. Retrospective data collected between 2011 and 2016 from four districts located along the border areas of Uganda and Tanzania, recorded 23 and 59 FMD outbreaks, respectively, for the entire study period. Analysis showed that 46% of the 82 recorded outbreaks occurred in 20% of sub-counties and wards immediately neighbouring the Uganda–Tanzania border and 69.5% of the outbreaks occurred during the dry months. While the serotypes of the FMD virus responsible for most outbreaks reported in this region were not known, previous research reported South African Territory (SAT) 1, SAT 2 and O to be the serotypes in circulation. The results from this study provide evidence of the endemic status of FMD on the Uganda–Tanzania border and emphasise that the border area should be given due consideration during FMD control drives and that cross-border coordination should be prioritised. With the limited data on circulating serotypes in this area, there is a need for more vigilance on FMD case detection, laboratory diagnostic confirmation and provision of more complete documentation of outbreaks. This work further recommends more studies on cross-border livestock movement coupled with phylogenetics in order to understand the spread of the FMD in the border area.

A novel nucleic acid amplification method, loop-mediated isothermal amplification, was developed and recently demonstrated detection of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in tissue samples. But slaughter of poultry for test samples is often faced with resentment by low-income farmers. This study was undertaken to determine the test properties of reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) in detection of NDV in clinical cases using cloacal and oropharyngeal swabs. Samples included 46 tracheal tissues, 94 cloacal and 107 oro-pharyngeal swabs from on-station and 30 spleens, 74 cloacal and 74 oro-pharyngeal swabs from the field. Analysis was done using specific RT-LAMP targeting the fusion (F) protein. While the method detected NDV from swab samples, no RNA of other poultry disease viruses was amplified, indicating analytical specificity of 100%. RT-LAMP took 36 minutes in 83% (n=329) of positive reactions with all samples amplified in <60 minutes. Results were easily observed with a naked eye. Cloacal and oro-pharyngeal swabs could be a convenient and cheaper alternative in diagnosis of NDV infection by RT-LAMP in resource poor countries.

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Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most important livestock diseases in East Africa with outbreaks reported annually that cause severe economic losses. It is possible to control disease using vaccination, but antigenic matching of the vaccine to circulating strains is critical. To determine the relationship between foot-and-mouth disease viruses circulating in districts along the Uganda and Tanzanian border between 2016 and 2017 and currently used vaccines, phylogenetic analysis of the full VP1 virus sequences was carried out on samples collected from both sides of the border. A total of 43 clinical samples were collected from animals exhibiting signs of FMD and VP1 sequences generated from 11 of them. Eight out of the 11 sequences obtained belonged to serotype O and three belonged to serotype A. The serotype O sequences obtained showed limited nucleotide divergence (average of 4.9%) and belonged to topotype East Africa-2, whereas the most common O-type vaccine strain used in the region (O/KEN/77/78) belonged to East Africa-1. The serotype A viruses belonged to topotype Africa-G1 (average nucleotide divergence 7.4%), as did vaccine strain K5/1980. However, vaccine strain K35/1980 belonged to Africa G VII with an average sequence divergence of 20.5% from the study sequences. The genetic distances between current vaccine strains and circulating field strains underscores the crucial need for regular vaccine matching and the importance of collaborative efforts for better control of FMD along this border area.