Journal of Zoonotic Diseases
Volume:7 Issue: 3, Summer 2023

Bovine mastitis is the most common disease caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and chemicals in dairy herds, causing economic loss and food safety concerns. The treatment and prevention of this disease are primarily through antimicrobial agents. Still, antimicrobial resistance could hamper the effectiveness of conventional drugs for this disease. Furthermore, antimicrobial residues in milk and the environment may endanger human health. This shows that using plants and essential oils (EOs) to prevent mastitis in cattle might be feasible. Several plants are known to possess antimicrobial properties, and plant extracts and EOs are generally considered safe for animals, humans, and the environment. This review article summarizes the ongoing issues encountered in the classical treatment of mastitis and the impact of the most common plant extracts and EOs on bovine mastitis as an alternative method of controlling these pathogens, as well as the drawbacks of using these plant derivatives. Finally, plant extracts and EOs have good antibacterial activity against bacteria isolated from bovine mastitis milk. However, the use of these plant extracts and EOs as medicines requires numerous clinical trials on dairy farms.

AbstractRift Valley fever is an arboviral disease that mainly affects both animals and humans, associated with symptoms like strong chills, malaise, weakness, nausea, a severe headache, or a feeling of fullness around the hepatic region. It is mainly caused by a family of Bunyaviridae and the genus Phlebovirus of Rift Valley Fever (RVF). The virus spreads through mosquitoes and domestic animals in humans. The incubation period for RVF usually lasts four to six days. The majority of cases of RVF were non-fatal and self-limiting, whereas thrombosis, severe dengue, neurological problems, eyesight loss, or abortions in pregnant females have also been reported to be associated with the fever. Since 2000, multiple outbreaks have hit a wide range of Sub-Saharan African countries and the Arabian Peninsula. This review article mainly demonstrates how the virus affects humans, its causes, and conditions associated with RVF and currently available treatments.

Toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the most important zoonotic diseases in the world. The study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of T. gondii infections among sheep and pregnant women in Meket District, North-East Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2021 to June 2021. A simple random sampling strategy and a systematic random sampling strategy were used to select individual animal owners and pregnant women, respectively. A total of 530 blood samples (322 from sheep's jugular vein and 208 from the cephalic vein of pregnant women) were collected and examined using the latex agglutination test kit (LAT). A univariate and multivariate logistic regression test was applied to show the association between the dependent and independent variables, considering p<0.05 with a 95% confidence interval. The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii among individual sheep, flock levels, and pregnant women was found to be 31.4%, 72.5%, and 32.2%, respectively. Age, sex, water source, and cat ownership and cleaning of cat litter were significantly associated (p<0.05) with T. gondii infection in sheep and pregnant women, respectively. In conclusion, serological findings and the questionnaire survey indicated that T. gondii infection is highly prevalent in sheep and pregnant women in the study area, and hence appropriate control measures, including regular surveillance, health education, good hygiene, and management of cats, should be implemented to mitigate the problem.

Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonoses, which can be seen at higher risk, especially in livestock. This study aimed to evaluate the demographic characteristics and practices of people occupied in livestock on brucellosis. This cross-sectional survey was conducted between February 2023 and May 2023. The participants were asked questions about their socio-demographic information, level of knowledge about brucellosis, and basic practices during livestock. The mean age of the 204 participants included in the study was 41.53±15.66 years, and 64.7% (n=132) were male. Most participants were shepherds (45.1%). While all participants stated that they had heard of brucellosis and that the disease was transmitted from animals to humans, 12 (5.9%) stated that they had brucellosis before. No participants had received training on brucellosis. While all participants thought that brucellosis could be transmitted by consuming milk directly without boiling it, 98% thought that brucellosis could be transmitted from cheese made without boiling milk, and 96.6% from butter. The proportion of those who thought that the disease could be transmitted by touching abortion material or sick animals with bare hands was low (7.8% and 3.9%, respectively). The fact that the participants had some incorrect information and approaches about foodborne  transmission, that they had not received any training on zoonotic infections, that they did not comply with the hygiene rules in contact with waste material, and that wrong practices in the case of new animal participation in the herd reveals that more information and action is needed for the eradication of brucellosis.

This study aimed to use bibliometric tools to investigate onchocerciasis research conducted worldwide between 2000 and 2022. This bibliometric study was carried out using the Scopus database. The analysis unit was the documents conducted on onchocerciasis between 2000 and 2022. The data obtained after the last evaluations were transferred to VOSviewer (VOSviewer 1.6.19 for Microsoft Windows systems) and biblioshiny (bibliometrix R package) programs for analysis. The present results showed that 1026 documents on onchocerciasis were indexed in the Scopus database between 2000 and 2022. 2554 authors have published this literature, and the annual growth rate was 1.34 %. Forty-one articles were published in 2000, and after 2014, there was an increase in the number of articles. The most publications were published in 2018 (n = 82). PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (n = 97) and Parasites & Vectors (n = 46) published the most publications on onchocerciasis. Most of the publications were published by authors from the United States (n = 341), the United Kingdom (n = 228), Cameroon (n = 150), Nigeria (n = 132), and Germany (n = 120). The documents originating from the United States (n = 2372) had the highest citation numbers. The onchocerciasis research landscape between 2000 and 2022 is outlined in this report. Furthermore, the analysis offers an enhanced comprehension of the trends in onchocerciasis development over the previous 23 years, which might serve as a scientific benchmark for subsequent research.

Cryptosporidium is an intestinal apicomplexan protozoon that causes cryptosporidiosis, a diarrheal disease affecting gastrointestinal tract of a wide range of vertebrates, including humans, livestock, wild animals, and birds. In the present study, Cryptosporidium spp. infection was diagnosed in sheep using two staining

Modified Ziehl–Neelsen (MZN) and auramine O (AO) staining. A total of 260 fecal samples were collected from sheep. All the samples were subjected to the formalin-ether concentration technique. The fecal smears were stained using the MZN (acid-fast stain) and AO (fluorescent stain) staining methods and then observed under a light and a fluorescent microscope, respectively. Cohen's kappa was used to check the significant agreement between the two diagnostic methods. According to the results, there was substantial agreement between the two methods. However, since there are many fluorescent artifacts in sheep feces, the detection rapidity of Cryptosporidium spp. in sheep feces by MZN staining is higher than that of AO staining. Therefore, it is suggested to use MZN staining for diagnosing cryptosporidiosis in sheep flocks.