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.

Background The geographical distribution of intestinal parasites with conditions of poverty in most countries of sub-Saharan Africa coincides with that of HIV/AIDS. However, there is paucity of studies investigating the relationship between intestinal parasitic infections with CD4 counts and anemia in HIV/AIDS patients starting Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in this region particularly and in Ethiopia in general. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in relation to CD4 count and anemia among ART-initiated patients in St. Mary Aksum General Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 242 ART-initiated participants during February to April 2017 in St. Mary Aksum General hospital. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and laboratory examination. Logistic regression was applied to assess any association between explanatory factors and outcome variables ( P values < 0.05). Result The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites was 26.4% and among the six types of parasitic genera identified Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (18.6%) and Giardia lamblia (2.1 % ) were the leading. According to the multivariate analysis, lack of hand washing before meal, eating uncooked vegetables, history of taking anti-parasite medication, stool consistency, and anemia were strongly associated with intestinal parasitosis. Conclusion There was a high prevalence of intestinal parasites among HIV positive individuals. Intervention measures such as deworming, improving hygiene and sanitation practices should be strengthened to reduce the burden of intestinal parasites among people living with HIV. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12879-019-3989-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of Hepatitis C virus among patients with Diabetes mellitus and healthy control groups in North West Tigray. Blood samples from each study subject was tested for Hepatitis C virus by using anti Hepatitis C virus antibody rapid test kits and confirmed using enzyme linked immuno sorbent assy.ResultThe overall seroprevalence of Hepatitis C virus, Hepatitis C virus among diabetic and non diabetic study subjects were found (16.7, 28, and 6) % respectively. Multi varate logistic regression analysis result shows that study subject with uvulotomy, previous history of immunosuppressive disease, and study subjects with fast blood glucose (≥ 126 mg/dl) showed statistically significant association with anti Hepatitis C virus antibody sero status [AOR (12.4 (3.5–18.3); 0.1 (0.03–0.5); and 8.6 (1.7–13)] respectively.