News, Events and Blog Postings

The study aims to determine the prevalence and distribution of pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter serovars and antibiotic resistance pat-terns of the same isolates from livestock in selected households from Korogocho and Viwandani slum and the quantification of the risk factors known to spread the organisms. This activity also contributes to providing the main project with a large bank of bacterial isolates from the livestock in the low income settlements to complement the human data from the case control study. Additional human isolates from livestock keepers have been collected (return rate approx. 30%, see above).

The case-control study which was looking at causation and risk factors of diarrhoea in children under 5 in two low-income settlements in Nairobi came to en end last April. Among the 637 children included in the study, 190 were cases (children with diarrhoea) and 447 were controls (children without diarrhoea). Stool samples from each child have been sent to the laboratory at KEMRI where parasitological and bacteriological analysis has been performed. Antimicrobial resistance is also currently being assessed.

Only 12% of the camel milk produced in Kenya is marketed. From these 12%, 10% is sold to rural consumers while the remaining 2% reaches urban consumers. It was projected that 38% of the milk produced is consumed directly by camel keeping households, with the remaining 50% going to waste. Most of the camel milk is consumed in raw form, either fresh or naturally fermented. This can expose consumers to infections from brucellosis and other milk borne infections.

The Kenyan poultry industry has been described to be characterized by dualism, com-prising both smallholder and large-scale poultry producers. The industry is described by two main production systems:
(i) Commercial hybrid poultry production system and
(ii) Indigenous poultry production system.

The Value Chain team is comprised of four people- James Akoko, Maurice Karani, Patrick Muinde (ILRI) and Pablo Alarcon (RVC) who have, since the last newsletter, been involved in quantitative data collection from retailers and livestock holders in Nairobi. The aim is to understand what are the livestock food systems in different areas of Nairobi, and what are the main food safety practices. We work closely with APHRC and the Department of Veterinary Services.

From the ongoing case control study at both Korogocho and Viwandani study sites, a total of 327 samples have been analyzed {water 146; food 134 and surface swabs 47} at University of Nairobi, Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology. Of the samples analyzed 67% (219) had bacteria growth {97 water on Aqua 3M petri film plates, 96 food and 26 swab samples on 3M enterobacteriaceae petri film plates}. The study has so far isolated, identified and stocked Escherichia coli (109), Salmonella spp(8) and Shigella spp(6) from 108 samples.

The Economic Thread has two aims: (1) To describe, map and understand the livestock value chains operating in the city of Nairobi and (2) to explore the possible hazards for emergence of foodborne zoonotic pathogens existing on those chains and peoples’ perception towards risks.

Data are being collected for a qualitative analysis (through focus groups or interviews with key people in the chain) and quantitative analysis (individual interview with a sample of people of each group, such as transporters).