For the last four years, Mary Ndila has been studying the population structure of indigenous cattle for her PhD project titled, ‘Genomics diversity of East African Shorthorn Zebu cattle of Western Kenya’, a joint program between ILRI and the University of Nottingham and funded by Wellcome Trust. In this article we find out whether breed … Continue reading »
‘For four decades, the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its predecessor (the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases, ILRAD) have conducted research on the lethal tick-borne cattle disease known as East Coast fever. ILRI’s work has focused on developing a new-generation ‘subunit’ vaccine, comprising molecular components of the causative parasite, while also … Continue reading »
The Kenyan ministries of livestock and development and public health and sanitation yesterday, 3 October 2012 officially launched the Zoonotic Disease Unit (ZDU) in Nairobi. ‘The ZDU is a One Health office in Kenya that was formed to address the gap that exists between animal and human health sectors in terms of prevention and control … Continue reading »
‘A Day in the Life of the People, Animals and their Zoonoses (PAZ) Project’, is series of blog articles by several members of ILRI staff working on the PAZ project based in Busia. These staff members, share their first hand experiences, challenges, and highlights of the project, in this post George Omondi Acharry, a laboratory … Continue reading »
Jan Naessens, is an immunology expert in livestock research working with the International Livestock Research institute (ILRI) Biotechnology Theme. In this interview we look at his career from the moment when he hardly dreamt of becoming a scientist, his contributions to immunology research, his optimism about CBBP research as well as other interests. 1. … Continue reading »
A recent study on ‘Identification of virulence factors of Theileria parva’ has confirmed the existence of a low virulent strain and identified the mechanism that was at the basis of this low virulence, showing some promising new avenues to develop a product that could help in the control of Theileriosis. This low virulent strain, Chitongo … Continue reading »
This study estimated economic values (EVs) for disease resistance traits for dairy/crossbred goats in Kenya. The traits mean somatic cell count (SCC, cells/μl) and faecal worm egg count (FEC, epg) were taken as indicator traits for the most prevalent diseases in the smallholder farms i.e., mastitis and helminthiosis, respectively. Economic weights were objectively assigned to … Continue reading »
In this article James Gachanja, who has just retired from ILRI, the place that has been his home for the past 23 years, looks back on his journey at ILRI as he excitedly goes to pursue his farming dream. From an early age, James Gachanja understood the value of livestock. He was educated and brought … Continue reading »
Busia County, in Western Kenya is the main research area for the People, Animals and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project. Farmers in this County and its environs are slowly adopting pig farming as an alternative way of earning their livelihoods. There is close interaction between pigs and people as they are either tethered within the homestead … Continue reading »
“Animal diseases make up 60 per cent of all human pathogens and have a significant impact on poverty. Yet for many years, the worst diseases were sorely neglected by the international community. Eric Fevre describes how this turned around, and what researchers are now doing to tackle it. ‘In the far west of rural Kenya, … Continue reading »
Sheila Ommeh is one of the few scientists who are devoted chicken research, in this interview, we connect the dots from the moment her initial curiosity on agricultural research was stirred to her current research highlights. Q: Have you always wanted to be a scientist? SO: Yes, my curiosity started in the early 1990s when … Continue reading »
