News, Events and Blog Postings
Confronting the rising threat of antibiotic resistance in livestock
This blogpost was authored by Tim Robinson a co-principal investigator in two of our projects (#UrbanZoo and #ZooLink) and originally appeared on Cambribge Core Blog available...
Laboratory capacity to diagnose Mycobacterium bovis in East Africa
The full report can be accessed at this link: http://www.rr-africa.oie.int/docspdf/en/2016/CHEROTICH1.pdf A report by Dr. Chepkwony submitted to the OIE- Regional Representation for Africa explores the diagnostic capacities at different scales for both human and...
One World-One Health at the RSTMH Biennial Meeting, autumn 2016
“There are fears that Africa’s next major modern disease crisis will emerge from its cities. Like Ebola, it may well originate from animals”. So writes Eric Fèvre from Nairobi in his conversation “Urban Zoo” This intimate association between human and animal health...
Rapid tool for the surveillance of cysticercosis
A blog entry by Kimetrica discusses promising progress in the development of a rapid tool for the surveillance of cysticercosis which will contribute to the global efforts by the World Health Organization in controlling cysticercosis by 2020. The proposed control...
Dengue and Chikungunya infections among febrile children in Busia County Referral Hospital
Infections leading to fever are the largest causes of child morbidity and mortality in Africa. Dengue and Chikungunya infections are among viral diseases that cause fever even in traditionally malaria endemic areas. We set out to determine the prevalence and risk...
Tracking the movements of people and their livestock
As zoonotic diseases can be transported across landscapes by hosts, understanding the complexities of host-mediated pathogen movement is a priority for zoonotic disease research. For my research, I have been using surveys and GPS trackers to gather data on the...
Freshwater Vector Snails and their Infection with Trematode cercariae in Busia County
In this study, we sought to identify snail species infected with Trema-tode cercariae and environmental factors that correlate with their presence. This was undertaken to better understand the underlying biology of these species to better understand the risk of transmission of livestock- and human-infectious trematodes.
Letter from the PI: Introducing the ZooLink Suite of Projects
It’s a real pleasure to write the first “Letter from the PI” for the Zoonoses in Livestock in Kenya (ZooLinK) project, part of the Zoonoses in Emerging Livestock Systems programme, funded by the UK Research Councils (led by the BBSRC), UK DFID and UK DSTL.
Our project has been underway since 2015, engaged in planning and staffing, followed by refurbishing of our field lab and the commencement of field activities in Kenya. It’s satisfying, a year and a half in, to now be able to start reporting on how we are doing and what we are up to. While we have been and will continue to share updates through social media on a regular basis, our project newsletters serve to provide slightly more indepth ongoing reporting of our work. Newsletter articles will also appear on our project website as blog articles – we are active on social media both on the web at www.zoonotic-diseases.org and through twitter @ZoonoticDisease, with #zels #zoolink.
Dr. John Kiiru: My experience as a Post Doc
I joined the Urban Zoo Project in June 2014 as a laboratory coordinator. The Urban Zoo study is a collaborative project bringing together experts from various institutions in the UK (University of Liverpool, The Royal Veterinary College, University of Edinburgh etc.), and at least three institutions in Kenya (The University of Nairobi (UoN), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). The Team in ILRI handles the fieldwork while the teams at KEMRI and UoN handle the lab work. My main responsibility has been to develop standard protocols for use in the two labs and to ensure that the data generated is not only robust, but accurate. The two labs have approximately 10 technicians, numerous students on attachments and a number of interns from Kenya and the UK.
Our Work in Pictures
Bovine liver from slaughterhouses
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