Apr. 23, 2013 — A new study at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp analyses the impact of animal brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis (BTB) on animals and people in urban, peri-urban and rural Niger. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks them as major zoonoses, infectious diseases transmitted between species. The research maps risk factors for transmission of these diseases from animals to humans, indicating that closer collaboration between medical doctors and veterinarians is required.
Interviews with the local population identified the main risk factors for transmission; consumption of unpasteurised milk, lack of hygiene in households, presence of coughing animals in the herd, and absence of quarantine.
"Milk is an important source of protein in Niger. Animals graze in rural areas, but are brought to the city when lactating in order to be as close as possible to the consumer. Mapping these kind of dynamics provides vital information about the diseases and how they are transmitted," said Abdou Razac Boukary about his doctoral research at ITM and the University of Liège (Ulg).
The study concludes that it is crucial to address the interlinks between humans, animals and the environment to control animal brucellosis and BTB. They are both an economic and a public health threat. While contagion is extremely unlikely in industrialised countries, the largest part of the world's population lives in areas where animal brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis are not under control. Hence, ITM calls for increased collaboration between animal and human health specialists in a so called "One Health" approach.
"We should not forget that more than 60% of human pathogens originate from animals. But raising awareness about these relatively unknown diseases is also crucial from an economic perspective. According to an African saying, if livestock die so does the village," said ITM scientist Eric Thys, co-promoter of the thesis.
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