Vaccination is an important disease prevention and control measure; however, vaccine adoption by livestock farmers in Tanzania is still low. This cross-sectional study examined the challenges to vaccine use faced by livestock owners and animal health professionals (AHPs) in Tanzania. A questionnaire was administered to 216 households that kept small ruminants and poultry and 19 AHPs' data were collected electronically via the survey platform Qualtrics, and descriptive statistics were performed. Households with poultry reported vaccinating mostly against Newcastle disease (91.7%), fowl pox (48.1%) and Gumboro disease (37.0%), whilst households with small ruminants reported contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (62.2%), sheep and goat pox (17.1%), foot-and-mouth disease (7.3%) and peste des petits ruminants (7.3%). The households' decision to vaccinate was mostly influenced by knowledge of diseases (82.4%), disease history on the farm (69.4%) and vaccine price (63.4%). Most households (54.6%) experienced challenges when purchasing vaccines, including high vaccine cost (78.0%), long distance from vaccine source (61.0%) and vaccine unavailability (21.2%). The findings suggest that improving the knowledge of livestock owners regarding the priority diseases and the benefits of vaccination, establishing more vaccine suppliers, improving vaccine distribution and access and training AHPs and households on appropriate vaccine storage and handling are necessary to improve vaccine adoption and ensure vaccine quality and effectiveness.

Vaccination is an important disease prevention and control measure; however, vaccine adoption by livestock farmers in Tanzania is still low. This cross-sectional study examined the challenges to vaccine use faced by livestock owners and animal health professionals (AHPs) in Tanzania. A questionnaire was administered to 216 households that kept small ruminants and poultry and 19 AHPs’ data were collected electronically via the survey platform Qualtrics, and descriptive statistics were performed. Households with poultry reported vaccinating mostly against Newcastle disease (91.7%), fowl pox (48.1%) and Gumboro disease (37.0%), whilst households with small ruminants reported contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (62.2%), sheep and goat pox (17.1%), foot-and-mouth disease (7.3%) and peste des petits ruminants (7.3%). The households’ decision to vaccinate was mostly influenced by knowledge of diseases (82.4%), disease history on the farm (69.4%) and vaccine price (63.4%). Most households (54.6%) experienced challenges when purchasing vaccines, including high vaccine cost (78.0%), long distance from vaccine source (61.0%) and vaccine unavailability (21.2%). The findings suggest that improving the knowledge of livestock owners regarding the priority diseases and the benefits of vaccination, establishing more vaccine suppliers, improving vaccine distribution and access and training AHPs and households on appropriate vaccine storage and handling are necessary to improve vaccine adoption and ensure vaccine quality and effectiveness.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health threat for both human and veterinary medicine. Increasing evidence suggests that animals are important sources of AMR to humans; however, most of these studies focus on production animals. In order to determine the pattern of AMR in pets, mainly in dogs in Africa, a meta-analysis was performed with AMR studies conducted in African countries and published between January 2000 and January 2021 in four databases: Medline (PubMed), Scopus, Cab abstract and Google Scholar. Seven bacterial strains, namely Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pyogenes, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (SNC) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius were included in this study. A total of 18 out of 234 indexed articles met the study criteria. The results revealed that multiple bacteria were resistant to various commonly used antibiotics including enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, amoxicillin, clavulanic acid, cotrimoxazole, streptomycin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol. Concerning multidrug resistance, E. coli strains came first with the highest prevalence of 98%, followed by P. aeroginosa (92%) and Salmonella spp. (53%). In contrast, the overall prevalence of multidrug resistance was low for S. aureus (18%) and S. pseudintermedius (25%). It is therefore urgent to find, as soon as possible, alternatives to replace these antibiotics, which have become ineffective in controlling these bacteria in dogs in Africa. Moreover, further metagenomic studies are needed to describe the full resistome and mobilome in dogs regardless of the bacteria.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health threat for both human and veterinary medicine. Increasing evidence suggests that animals are important sources of AMR to humans; however, most of these studies focus on production animals. In order to determine the pattern of AMR in pets, mainly in dogs in Africa, a meta-analysis was performed with AMR studies conducted in African countries and published between January 2000 and January 2021 in four databases: Medline (PubMed), Scopus, Cab abstract and Google Scholar. Seven bacterial strains, namely Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pyogenes, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (SNC) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius were included in this study. A total of 18 out of 234 indexed articles met the study criteria. The results revealed that multiple bacteria were resistant to various commonly used antibiotics including enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, amoxicillin, clavulanic acid, cotrimoxazole, streptomycin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol. Concerning multidrug resistance, E. coli strains came first with the highest prevalence of 98%, followed by P. aeroginosa (92%) and Salmonella spp. (53%). In contrast, the overall prevalence of multidrug resistance was low for S. aureus (18%) and S. pseudintermedius (25%). It is therefore urgent to find, as soon as possible, alternatives to replace these antibiotics, which have become ineffective in controlling these bacteria in dogs in Africa. Moreover, further metagenomic studies are needed to describe the full resistome and mobilome in dogs regardless of the bacteria.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus and the sole member of the Asfarviridae family. ASFV infects domestic pigs, wild boars, warthogs, and bush pigs, as well as soft ticks (Ornithodoros erraticus), which likely act as a vector. The major target is swine monocyte-macrophage cells. The virus can cause high fever, haemorrhagic lesions, cyanosis, anorexia, and even fatalities in domestic pigs. Currently, there is no vaccine and effective disease control strategies against its spread are culling infected pigs and maintaining high biosecurity standards. African swine fever (ASF) spread to Europe from Africa in the middle of the 20ᵗʰ century, and later also to South America and the Caribbean. Since then, ASF has spread more widely and thus is still a great challenge for swine breeding. The genome of ASFV ranges in length from about 170 to 193 kbp depending on the isolate and contains between 150 and 167 open reading frames (ORFs). The ASFV genome encodes 150 to 200 proteins, around 50 of them structural. The roles of virus structural proteins in viral infection have been described. These proteins, such as pp220, pp62, p72, p54, p30, and CD2v, serve as the major component of virus particles and have roles in attachment, entry, and replication. All studies on ASFV proteins lay a good foundation upon which to clarify the infection mechanism and develop vaccines and diagnosis methods. In this paper, the roles of ASFV structural proteins in viral infection are reviewed.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus and the sole member of the Asfarviridae family. ASFV infects domestic pigs, wild boars, warthogs, and bush pigs, as well as soft ticks (Ornithodoros erraticus), which likely act as a vector. The major target is swine monocyte-macrophage cells. The virus can cause high fever, haemorrhagic lesions, cyanosis, anorexia, and even fatalities in domestic pigs. Currently, there is no vaccine and effective disease control strategies against its spread are culling infected pigs and maintaining high biosecurity standards. African swine fever (ASF) spread to Europe from Africa in the middle of the 20th century, and later also to South America and the Caribbean. Since then, ASF has spread more widely and thus is still a great challenge for swine breeding. The genome of ASFV ranges in length from about 170 to 193 kbp depending on the isolate and contains between 150 and 167 open reading frames (ORFs). The ASFV genome encodes 150 to 200 proteins, around 50 of them structural. The roles of virus structural proteins in viral infection have been described. These proteins, such as pp220, pp62, p72, p54, p30, and CD2v, serve as the major component of virus particles and have roles in attachment, entry, and replication. All studies on ASFV proteins lay a good foundation upon which to clarify the infection mechanism and develop vaccines and diagnosis methods. In this paper, the roles of ASFV structural proteins in viral infection are reviewed.

Infectious diseases of swine, particularly zoonoses, have had a significant influence on nutritional safety and availability of pig meat as high-energy protein product since the time that pigs were domesticated back in the 7ᵗʰ century BC. The main sources of swine infectious diseases include the so-called primary sources (direct infection, i.e. through contact with infected and sick animals) and secondary sources (contaminated meat products, slaughter products, and vectors, including ticks). At present, the most serious epidemiological and economic threat to swine breeding in Europe is African swine fever (ASF). This disease, originally coming from Africa, is incurable and causes death of infected pigs and wild boars during 7−10 days after infection. Among the various factors that influence the spread of ASF, important role is played by ticks from the genus Ornithodoros, mainly from the species Ornithodoros moubata. Research on the ASF indicates that other species of ticks can also transmit the virus to healthy pigs in laboratory conditions. Sylvatic and domestic cycles of ASF virus transmission, which have been described so far, require further studies and updating in order to point the potential new vectors in the Caucasus and Eastern Europe affected by the ASF. Effective methods of control and biosecurity may significantly slow down the spread of ASF, which undoubtedly is a major threat to world pig production and international swine trade.

Infectious diseases of swine, particularly zoonoses, have had a significant influence on nutritional safety and availability of pig meat as high-energy protein product since the time that pigs were domesticated back in the 7th century BC. The main sources of swine infectious diseases include the so-called primary sources (direct infection, i.e. through contact with infected and sick animals) and secondary sources (contaminated meat products, slaughter products, and vectors, including ticks). At present, the most serious epidemiological and economic threat to swine breeding in Europe is African swine fever (ASF). This disease, originally coming from Africa, is incurable and causes death of infected pigs and wild boars during 7−10 days after infection. Among the various factors that influence the spread of ASF, important role is played by ticks from the genus Ornithodoros, mainly from the species Ornithodoros moubata. Research on the ASF indicates that other species of ticks can also transmit the virus to healthy pigs in laboratory conditions. Sylvatic and domestic cycles of ASF virus transmission, which have been described so far, require further studies and updating in order to point the potential new vectors in the Caucasus and Eastern Europe affected by the ASF. Effective methods of control and biosecurity may significantly slow down the spread of ASF, which undoubtedly is a major threat to world pig production and international swine trade.

Several lyssavirus species occur in Africa (Rabies virus, Lagos bat virus, Mokola virus, Duvenhage virus, Shimoni bat virus and Ikoma lyssavirus), displaying a high sequence diversity between isolates belonging to the same species. There is limited information about comparative pathogenesis of these African lyssaviruses and this precludes authoritative opinion on the potential public and veterinary health impact. In this study, an analysis of representative African lyssaviruses attempted to correlate viral genomic sequence similarities and differences with the corresponding pathogenic profiles observed in mice. The study demonstrated that the virus isolates evaluated could be lethal to mice when introduced intramuscularly and that different isolates of the same lyssavirus species differ in their virulence. Using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), viral RNA was detected in brain tissue, but no viral RNA was detected in the salivary glands or blood of mice that succumbed to infection. Comparison of known pathogenic domains indicated that pathogenicity is likely to be dependent on multiple domains. Cumulatively, our results re-emphasised the realisation that the pathogenicity of a lyssavirus species cannot be deduced based on studies of only a single isolate of the species or a single pathogenic domain.

Several lyssavirus species occur in Africa (Rabies virus, Lagos bat virus, Mokola virus, Duvenhage virus, Shimoni bat virus and Ikoma lyssavirus), displaying a high sequence diversity between isolates belonging to the same species. There is limited information about comparative pathogenesis of these African lyssaviruses and this precludes authoritative opinion on the potential public and veterinary health impact. In this study, an analysis of representative African lyssaviruses attempted to correlate viral genomic sequence similarities and differences with the corresponding pathogenic profiles observed in mice. The study demonstrated that the virus isolates evaluated could be lethal to mice when introduced intramuscularly and that different isolates of the same lyssavirus species differ in their virulence. Using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), viral RNA was detected in brain tissue, but no viral RNA was detected in the salivary glands or blood of mice that succumbed to infection. Comparison of known pathogenic domains indicated that pathogenicity is likely to be dependent on multiple domains. Cumulatively, our results re-emphasised the realisation that the pathogenicity of a lyssavirus species cannot be deduced based on studies of only a single isolate of the species or a single pathogenic domain.