What attracted you to the genomics diversity of East African Shorthorn Zebu cattle of western Kenya research?
After my masters in molecular entomology at the University of Ghana, I joined ILRI as a research technician. Due to my great passion to carry out result-oriented research for the benefit of the grassroot farmers, I applied for a PhD opportunity that aimed at understanding the current genetic architecture of an indigenous African cattle breed with one of its primary objectives being to identify good cow/bad cow genotypes that could be used in future breeding programmmes. This research was to be carried out under the Infectious Diseases of East African Livestock (IDEAL) project. My application was successful and I joined the IDEAL team in September 2008.

How is the current state of breeding programs in Africa?
Many farmers are keen on improving the productivity of their livestock due to the rapidly changing socio-economic trends. Most improved breeds come in the form of exotic genotypes that are introduced into the indigenous gene pool through artificial insemination services or crossbreeds. A majority of these projects have not been sustainable in the long term largely because of poor adaptability of the new stock to disease, disease vectors and climate as well as lack of long-term breeding strategies resulting to a loss of long-term adaptive traits. The lack of knowledge on the effects of these rampant breed improvement programmes and crossbreeding activities were a great impetus of this study.

How did you carry out your research and what kind of information did you collect?
The IDEAL study area covered 20 sub locations that transverse 4 agro-ecological zones in Western Kenya. A total of 548 recruited calves were exposed to natural disease and vector challenges without any medical intervention apart from euthanasia of critical cases and followed up over a 1-year duration. Detailed reports on clinical episodes, pathogens present in tissue and feacal samples, vector identification and postmortem analyses represented the non-phenotypic data whereas 10 different phenotypic characteristics (coat colour, coat pattern, dewlap presence, horn shape and size etc) were recorded too. The genotypic data was generated from a large–scale genotyping tool BovineSNP50. My research interrogated the genotypic data to establish the genetic structure and define good cow/bad cow genotypes.

What did you observe from the data collected?
It was evident that there was widespread introduction of exotic genotypes into the indigenous zebu gene pool. The effect of crossbreeding activities on the genome integrity of the indigenous zebu breed was evidenced by the skewed distribution of the European taurine introgressed animals across the study region, notable in the northern and southern areas.
The study also evidenced the continual waning of the genetic diversity of the study population through low genetic differentiation estimates suggestive of inbreeding and revealed the persistent shrinkage of the effective population size post rinderpest epidemics. The main cause of this phenomenon was the traditional management practices that involve the sharing of a selected bull within the villages, the encroachment of grazing land resulting to drastic shrinkage of land and subsequent unsupervised mating.

What are the implications of your observation on the distribution of exotic and indigenous genes in the study region?
Whereas breed improvement programs are in all parts of western Kenya, the observed skewed distribution of the exotic genotypes across the study regions draws a lot of attention. The genetic cline observed where higher European taurine genotypes were found in the Northern sub-locations as opposed to the southern ones may be indicative of possible purging out of the European genotypes that are deemed unfit by the tropical environment. The constant disease and vector pressures may be selecting out these exotic genotypes with time. The differences in the climatic conditions in the north and south as well as prevalence of disease and vectors may have significantly contributed to this phenomenon. The inability of these exotic animals to survive long enough to pass on their genes or have surviving offspring in these environments may indicate failed introductions of breed improvement programs. These findings call us to pose pertinent question as to whether the introduction of the exotic genotypes is really beneficial to the average small-scale farmers within certain regions.

What were some of the sources of these exotic animals and how can they be efficiently introduced?
The main sources were bull schemes, artificial insemination and heifer donations by the breed improvement programmes as well as animal markets in Bumala and Amukura sub-locations. With the evidence of possible purging out of exotic genotypes, the introduction of exotic animals in a new environment needs to be systematic and well researched for these programs to be successful. Different animals are suited to different areas and while an animal may be seen to perform better in the short term the case might not be so in the long term.

Is it a worthwhile for international organizations and the government to invest in this venture?
My findings paint a typical “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” scenario where short term results of relatively high-milk production favourable from a socio-economic point of view tip the balance to long term losses of cattle populations to infectious disease due to the loss of adaptive traits that is undesirable from a genetic diversity view point. However, if emphasis by these bodies is put into research to match genotypes to environments we may have favourable results.

What do the findings say about farmers’ knowledge on the introduction of exotic genotypes?
It is obvious that farmers are not aware of the repercussions of introducing exotic genotypes into their indigenous breeds and have thus continued to participate in these activities. There is a pressing need to educate farmers on these effects and to empower them with adequate knowledge on the importance of conserving and managing their indigenous breeds.

What do you recommend based on these findings?
While the productivity of indigenous cattle could be low as compared to the exotic genotypes, these animals possess some very good ecologically important traits like disease/vector resistance and heat tolerance that we cannot afford to lose in this continent. Neither can we afford to trade off adaptability for short term economic gains and expect to bring about lasting solutions to the African farmer. There is a need to work towards a more sustainable goal through tapping into indigenous cattle breeds and improving their productivity and resilience within the confines of Africa. Success need to be confounded to continuity. More studies and a greater understanding of our indigenous cattle need to be done.
The observed drastic reduction in the indigenous zebu stock calls for immediate conservation and management strategies to prevent further loss and possible genetic uniformity that would have unfavorable implications on the populations’ fitness.

Did you face any challenges while carrying out your project?
Both my supervisors (Prof. Olivier Hanotte and Dr. Miika Tapio) left ILRI just as I began my studies but their dedication and commitment towards me attaining the ultimate goal throughout the four years is something that I will forever be grateful for and indebted to them. Last but not the least, redefining the role of an African woman in the present day world was a leap of faith for me. Playing the role of mother, wife, and student were the hardest glass balls to juggle but I got it right at the end.

What are your future prospects after this study?
I’m keen on applying the knowledge I gained to carry out in-depth studies to identify the best suited candidate genotypes that survive best in particular environments. I would like to be involved in projects that are aimed at not only providing economic solutions, but sustainable solutions that will bring lasting change for the African smallholder farmers who have continued to remain lost in the background as we forge ahead in our pursuit in science. The cart has to come after the donkey and that calls too for the African farmer and agricultural research. It’s time to make the African livestock genome work to the benefit of the average farmers, It is time to utilize exhaustively upcoming new bio-technologies to inform the knowledge gap in African animal genetics and oil the rusty cog of the African agricultural wheel churning towards eradication of poverty and targeted breed improvement strategies.

Other similar posts that you might want to read

Sheila Ommeh, her journey through agricultural research and passion for chicken research

An abstract from the ‘Viral metagenomics demonstrates that domestic pigs are a potential reservoir for Ndumu virus‘ report published in the Virology Journal.

Background

The rising demand for pork has resulted in a massive expansion of pig production in Uganda. This has resulted in increased contact between humans and pigs. Pigs can act as reservoirs for emerging infectious diseases. Therefore identification of potential zoonotic pathogens is important for public health surveillance. In this study, during a routine general surveillance for African swine fever, domestic pigs from Uganda were screened for the presence of RNA and DNA viruses using a high-throughput pyrosequencing method.

Findings
Serum samples from 16 domestic pigs were collected from five regions in Uganda and pooled accordingly. Genomic DNA and RNA were extracted and sequenced on the 454 GS-FLX platform. Among the sequences assigned to a taxon, 53% mapped to the domestic pig (Sus scrofa). African swine fever virus, Torque teno viruses (TTVs), and porcine endogenous retroviruses were identified. Interestingly, two pools (B and C) of RNA origin had sequences that showed 98% sequence identity to Ndumu virus (NDUV). None of the reads had identity to the class Insecta indicating that these sequences were unlikely to result from contamination with mosquito nucleic acids.

Conclusions
This is the first report of the domestic pig as a vertebrate host for Ndumu virus. NDUV had been previously isolated only from culicine mosquitoes. NDUV therefore represents a potential zoonotic pathogen, particularly given the increasing risk of human-livestock-mosquito contact.

Citation:      Masembe, C., Michuki, G., Onyango, M., Rumberia, C., Norling M., Bishop, R.P., Djikeng, A., Kemp, S.J., Orth, A., Skilton, R.A., Ståhl, K. and Fischer, A. 2012. Viral metagenomics demonstrates that domestic pigs are a potential reservoir for Ndumu virus. Virology Journal 9:218

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Reblogged from CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish:

A successful Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) meeting was held in ILRI-Addis on the 25-26 Jan, 2013.  The meeting was sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), German and international development cooperation (GTZ) and the Livestock and Fish CGIAR Research Program.

The purpose of the meeting was to assess the current status of CBPP what is known, what is unknown and what do we need to know in order to better control the disease in Africa, with a view to developing a consortium approach to research on the disease.

Participants included CBPP researchers, researchers active in related fields of diagnostic assay and vaccine development, and representatives of the BMGF, GALVmed and Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre of the African Union (AU-PANVAC).

The topics covered included reports from national organizations on CBPP control efforts, research updates and general discussions on what is required to control and ultimately eradicate CBPP from Africa.

The meeting was organized by Jores Joerg, ILRI scientist and Samuel Thevasagayam from the BMGF.

Content credit: Phil Toye, ILRI scientist

Participants of the PENAPH technical workshop

The Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and Public Health (PENAPH) first technical workshop was held on Dec 11-13, 2012 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The committee accepted 34 abstracts out of 55 submissions as oral presentations and an additional 13 were accepted as posters.  The workshop brought together trainers, practitioners and others interested in Participatory Epidemiology (PE) and its applications in animal health, one health and ecohealth. The following topics were discussed at the workshop:

• Participatory Epidemiology: lessons learned and perspectives – what worked, what didn’t, why and how?
• Methods for assessment and evaluation of surveillance programs that include Participatory Disease Surveillance
• Validation of participatory tools in epidemiology and comparison of Participatory Epidemiology with conventional research methods
• How to integrate Participatory Epidemiology and Participatory Disease Surveillance with conventional research and surveillance methods in animal health, one health and ecohealth?
• Participatory impact assessment of health related activities
• Innovative approaches from qualitative and semi-quantitative research methods in fields other than animal health, one health & eco-health (e.g. social sciences, human epidemiology, or public health).

For more information about the workshop contact the PENAPH coordinator Jeff Mariner at j (dot) mariner@cgiar.org

A dairy farmer in Saoset village in Kenya’s Bomet district (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu).

‘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 developing molecular tools to enhance the quality of an infection-and-treatment (ITM) immunization method, consisting of whole live parasites.

The ITM vaccine was developed first by the former East African Veterinary Research Organisation, at Muguga, Kenya, between 1967 and 1977, now known as the Veterinary Research Centre, which is part of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and which has continued to refine the vaccine.

ILRI produced the first commercial batch of the ITM vaccine in the late 1990s, at the request of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. A decade later, on request from regional stakeholders, ILRI produced a second batch, which is now being used in East Africa. ILRI and KARI also supported Kenya’s Director of Veterinary Services (DVS) in his department’s successful trials that have confirmed the safety and effectiveness of the ITM vaccine, thus making way for the launch of its national distribution today’.

‘In order  to realize full benefits from the use of the ECF vaccine, the Ministry of Livestock Development will undertake to ensure its sustainable production, pricing distribution and delivery to livestock keepers in all areas scheduled for vaccination and to those who need it most, the rural livestock keepers in Kenya.’ Philomena Koech, Ministry of Livestock Permanent Secretary, Daily Nation (Kenya) press release

Vaccine distributors
The vaccine approved country distributors are:

• Bora Biotech Ltd
• Biomedicum Ltd
• Kenya Dairy Farmers Federation
• SIDAI Africa
• TEGEA Ltd

Phil Toye and Henry Kiara, ILRI scientists, involved in this research for many years attended the launch that was held in Katuka farm in Kitale on 7th Dec.

Read the full ILRI’s news release article: New vaccine launched today to protect Kenyan cattle against East Coast fever

Other related news: Reprieve to pastoralists as new vaccine for animal fever unveiled

Group photo of the virus discovery workshop participants

Scientists conducting research in the area of pathogen discovery, especially virus discovery met for a 4 day workshop on 5-8 Nov 2012. Held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Nairobi, the aim of the workshop was to enable ILRI to make informed decisions about which technologies to be investing in to support the pathogen activities in the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health (A4NH).

Why virus discovery?

Viruses contribute the highest burden of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in livestock and humans. To detect, prevent and control outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, virus discovery is one key research area at ILRI that helps scientists to understand diseases and come up with disease prevention measures. This area makes a huge contribution to the control of livestock diseases.

Though a lot of research has  been done on characterization of viruses, the world still faces the threat of viral emerging infectious diseases (EID) such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), bird flu, Rift Valley fever and blue tongue disease. These diseases pose serious threats to many poor livestock keepers and necessitate the need for more investments in this research. In this rapidly changing research field, a review of the state of the art technology that supports virus discovery is important to enable research organizations to be informed and keep up with the changing technology.

The workshop brought together a rich mix of participants who were drawn from institutions such as: the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO); Australian Animal Health Laboratory; Roche; Natural History Museum of Denmark; Los Alamos National Laboratory; University of Chicago; Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and the Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

Among the participants were Andreas Wilke from the University of Chicago who is one of the MGRAST software developers and Tony Walters from the University of Colorado who is among the developers of QIIME software. MGRAST and QIIME pipelines are used by the ILRI genomics group in analysis of meta genomics data obtained from the high throughput sequencing platform. These developers shared first hand experiences in designing the pipelines and also received first hand feedback from the users on usability issues and possible areas of improvement on the software.

Topics discussed included field sampling strategies, virus samples handling/shipment and preservation, viral genome detection, sequencing, isolation or enrichment from mixed samples and metagenomic data analysis.

A key output from the workshop was a set of consolidated tools, techniques and strategies appropriate for pathogen discovery. Second, new opportunities for potential collaboration were identified including an outline of CSIRO collaboration for the A4NH research work.  Last, a funding opportunity from DTRA was identified.

The workshop was supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and Roche.

17 African countries where the training and management C-DAGRIS is scheduled to start in late 2012 and run for the next 3 years

This web-based electronic source of information is progressing from an expansive information system to a detailed country DAGRIS (C-DAGRIS). In C-DAGRIS the information is customized to the country’s indigenous farm animal genetic resources enabling users of the system to get much more refined information on the various indigenous animals addressing specific needs to a particular country. With this development, countries are now identifying focal institutes, allocating resources and managing the data compilation, entry and the management of the system.

Training of C-DAGRIS started this month, November, where an average of 20 professionals from local universities, research institutes and other organizations from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are being trained on management of C-DAGRIS and the modules developed for each country are being handed over. The trainings are done after identifying the focal institutes to house C-DAGRIS.

The above countries are countries where the ILRI Global Environment Fund (GEF)-Asia project titled ‘Development and application of decision-support tools to conserve and sustainably use genetic diversity in indigenous livestock and wild relatives’ that has funded this training together with the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish has ongoing project activities.

Modules of the four GEF Asia project countries and six ASARECA project countries namely, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have been developed and ready to be handed over by the DAGRIS team conducting the training that is led by  Tadelle Dessie, scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI ). The team is soon moving to an additional 17 African countries with the funding support from Korea for the next three years (starting in late 2012) through the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperative Initiative (KAFACI) of Rural Development Administration (RDA).

The objectives of DAGRIS are to compile and organize information on farm animal genetic resources from all available sources, to maintain the integrity and validity of the information, and to disseminate the information in a readily accessible way to all key stakeholders.

For more information about DAGRIS and the training contact Tadelle Dessie (T.DESSIE@CGIAR (dot) ORG)

Related news: Three-day workshop on DAGRIS system for Pakistan organized: http://www.brecorder.com/agriculture-a-allied/183/1258677/

Training Pictures

Pakistan Country Domestic Animal Genetic Resources Information System (C-DAGRIS) training

Vietnam Country Domestic Animal Genetic Resources Information System (C-DAGRIS) training

The side event on, Strategic plan 2011-2020: Sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity, is being jointly organized by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The event will present the experiences from a variety of countries which have undertaken GEF supported projects (implemented by UNEP and FAO) on different aspects of conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity. The various projects will be show-casing their activities and achievements in sustainable use of components of agricultural biodiversity will be presented. The event will be held in Hyderabad, India.

Read more: http://www.cbd.int/cop11

Male Beetal goats at Eid festival markets near Lahore, Pakistan (photo credit: ILRI/M. Sajjad Khan)

The second event, National Goat Show 2012, will be held on 19-21 October in Pakistan. This event is an animal show organized by University of Agriculture, Faisalabad as a teaching tool for training young people in animal agriculture.

‘The show is being organized to:

• Raise public awareness on availability of diversity in goats and conservation of indigenous goat breeds
• Promote awareness at public level for raising of good quality goats as pets, for sacrifice and for commercial purposes
• Organize goat farmers into an association for augmentation of breed improvement and conservation efforts
• Achieve student teaching and demonstration regarding indigenous breeds of goats available in Pakistan’

Among the activities at this event will include, milk competition, individual and flock beauty competitions and weight competition.

This event has been supported by GEF, UNEP, the ILRI led CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish, Endowment Fund Secretariat, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Livestock and Dairy Development Department, and Youth Festivals 2012, Government of Punjab.

The GEF-Asia project is led by Okeyo Mwai, while the genetic characterization component is led by Han Jianlin. This project aims to enhance livestock keepers’ awareness of the importance of the genetic conservation of indigenous livestock while helping them to raise their incomes through adoption of indigenous livestock breeds. The project is being implemented in Vietnan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

‘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 of zoonotic diseases. The unit is nested between the ministry of livestock development and the ministry of public health and sanitation, and has the goal of establishing and maintaining active collaboration at the animal-human-ecosystem interface towards better prevention and control of diseases transmissible between livestock and human.’ www.zdukenya.org

Eric Fevre, ILRI epidemiologist represented his research group - zoonotic and emerging diseases – and the ILRI director general at this event.

Read the safe food fair food ILRI blog about this: Annie Cook wins prize for best student poster at ISVEE – on ‘slaughterhouse zoonoses’

Jeff Mariner, an epidemiologist, who was also at the meeting, took part in the mini-Symposium on Participatory Epidemiology (PE). ‘The topics covered included PE practice in research and surveillance as well as two papers evaluating PE methods. An application of PE in Japan looked at the psychological impact of the response to the last Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak there. PENAPH was interested to learn that the PE Manual has been translated into Japanese. Versions  now exist in English, Spanish, French, Russian and Japanese.’

Read the PENAPH  blog about this: Participatory Epidemiology Mini-Symposium at ISVEE 13

Other ILRI Biotech staff who were at the meeting included: Eric Fevre, Will de Glanville, Lian Doble, Edward Okoth and Mike Barongo.

See other posters and presentations presented at this event in the ILRI Livestock Market Digest blog: ILRI presents at the 13th conference of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics

o complement the more traditional approaches to CTL antigen identification and vaccine development that we have previously undertaken we propose a use of immunoinformatics to predict CTL peptide epitopes followed by experimental verification of T cell specificity to candidate epitopes using peptide–MHC (pMHC) tetramers. This system, adapted from human and rodent studies, is in the process of being developed for cattle.

Briefly, we have used an artificial neural network called NetMHCpan, which has been trained mainly on existing human, mouse, and non-human primate MHC–peptide binding data in an attempt to predict the peptide-binding specificity of bovine MHC class I molecules.

Our data indicate that this algorithm needs to be further optimized by incorporation of bovine MHC–peptide binding data. When retrained, NetMHCpan may be used to predict parasite peptide epitopes by scanning the predicted T. parva proteome and known parasite CTL antigens. A range of pMHC tetramers, made “on-demand”, will then be used to assay cattle that are immune to ECF or in vaccine trials to determine if CTLs of the predicted epitope specificity are present or not. Thus, pMHC tetramers can be used in one step to identify candidate CTL antigens and to map CTL epitopes. Our current research focuses on 9 different BoLA class I molecules. By expanding this repertoire to include the most common bovine MHCs, these methods could be used as generic assays to predict and measure bovine T cell immune responses to any pathogen.

Citation: Nene, V., Svitek, N., Toye, P., Golde, W.T., Barlow, J., Buus, S. and Nielsen, M. 2012. Designing bovine T cell vaccines via reverse immunology. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases 3(3):188–192.

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Park Hyun-Chool, administrator of Korea’s Rural Development Administration, and Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI, after signing a memorandum of understanding.

On 26 Jul 2012, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Park Hyun Chool, Korea’s Rural Development Administration (RDA) administrator, and Jimmy Smith, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) director general. This memorandum of understanding signifies the beginning of more collaborative research, renewed partnership and the willingness and commitment from the two to jointly continue working together on livestock research. In addition, a new RDA abroad virtual laboratory (RAVL) was opened in ILRI’s laboratories in Nairobi, Kenya, which will serve as the focus of the collaborative research work between ILRI and RDA.

Opening of the RDA abroad virtual laboratory

The ILRI-Korea partnership dates from 2005, where 4 resident scientists from Korea have worked with ILRI scientists, exchanging information, knowledge and skills. Past research that the two institutions have jointly worked on include animal feeds, biodiversity and genome function. A key highlight for this collaborative work was the trypanosomiasis research that led to identification of candidate genes responsible for the resistance to the disease, which has since been published in the article: Genetic and expression analysis of cattle identifies candidate genes in pathways responding to Trypanosoma congolense infection. Current research, which Cho Chang-yeon, the present visiting scientist from Korea is involved in, is focused on chicken diversity and reproductive technology to develop cattle that are resistant to trypanosomosis through a project titled, ‘Basic mechanisms underlying species specific resistance to trypanosome resistance (BREAD)’.

During the visit the team got an opportunity to discuss and better understand how each of the institutes work and to explore opportunities that could lead to increased synergy and the exchange of skills and knowledge. RDA, the central government organization responsible for agricultural research and extension services in Korea has contributed to great progress made in the agricultural research sector in the country.  For instance, It was mentioned during the visit that the Korean livestock industry has increased by 15 times in the last half century leading to more production of livestock products. This partnership opportunity is seen and expected to bring about improvement in ILRI’s livestock research through the exchange of skills, knowledge and learning from each other. The visiting Korean delegation made a detailed laboratory and farm tour of ILRI during their visit.

On 2 July 2012 a new project was launched to develop a novel subunit cattle vaccine for the control of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), known as lung plague. This was announced by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) under the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF).

‘CIFSRF, a five-year, $62 million fund, brings Canadian and developing-country researchers together to produce lasting solutions to combat hunger and food insecurity in the developing world. This fund is also an important part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to doubling its investment in sustainable agricultural development, a commitment made by Canada at the 2009 G8 Meeting in L’Aquila, Italy.’

CBPP is an important highly contagious cattle disease that leads to a lot of losses in Kenya and the Africa continent. However, the current live vaccine used to control the disease is expensive to produce and gives shorter duration immunity, among other limitations. Through this new partnership, the project aims to produce an improved vaccine that is affordable, stable, easy to produce and gives better immunity.

 ‘This project aims to identify, by a very direct approach, components which would comprise a safer, more effective and cheaper vaccine. Such a vaccine would make control of CBPP much easier, particularly if done in combination with other control measures. We shall carry out a systematic approach to identify protective molecules from the mycoplasma pathogen.’ Jan Naessens, ILRI immunologist

‘The IDRC grant made such an approach possible: it provides the support and brings together a number of players who have the same goals, but have different and complementary competencies. VIDO has experience in vaccine production and offers high tech capabilities in its institute in Saskatoon. ILRI, based in Nairobi, has good knowledge of the bovine immunology of CBPP, while KARI is familiar with the disease in the field and the potential problems that can arise there. This is a unique combination and we are very enthusiastic about this opportunity.’ Phil Toye, ILRI immunologist

The project was officially launched by the Kenyan Minister for livestock development, Mohamed Kuti. In his opening speech, read on his behalf by Peter Ithondeka, Kenya’s director of veterinary services, the minister commended the scientists from Kenya and Canada who came up with this novel research project. The Canadian commitment and leadership to eradicate this and other livestock diseases was highly commended at the event.

The project is being led by the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI) in partnership with the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Organization (VIDO) of Canada and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

Read about the announcement of the new international research projects in the Canada Newswire:IDRC and CIDA support Canadian and developing-country scientists’ efforts to solve world hunger

Find more about the project here: Developing a vaccine for eradicating contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in Africa

The response to the call has been very encouraging, we have received a number of high quality abstracts and wish to extend the opportunity for more applicants to send their abstracts.

Click on this link to read the official announcement call: Call for Abstracts: PENAPH Technical Workshop – Chiang Mai, Thailand December 11-13 2012

Visit www.penaph.net for more news and information

Fascioliasis is a disease mainly of domestic ruminants (and also affects humans although no human case so far has been reported in Kenya) caused by liver fluke parasites Fasciola gigantica and Fasciola hepatica. Although the former Fasciola species is more common in the tropics and causes serious losses in cattle, sheep and goats and thus posing a major threat to resource poor farmers, Fasciola hepatica has also been reported to occur in high altitude areas of Kenya. In such areas, the two Fasciola species occur side by side.

The disease is fairly widely spread across Kenya save for variations in infection risk because of the heterogeneity in agro-ecological zones (AEZs) and production systems. The People, Animals and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project area, Busia and other areas such as the highlands, Rift Valley, Lake Victoria basin and Coastal strip that experience enhanced rainfall throughout the year tends to favour the survival of the intermediate host, the Lymnaeid snail Lymnae natalensis. Fascioliasis. Prevalence is higher in these areas compared to dry areas particularly the northern frontier districts and lower eastern Kenya that receive less rainfall.

life cycle of fasciola hepatica and fasciola gigantica

Fascioliasis has also been identified as a major cause of liver condemnations in slaughtered animals throughout Kenya. Livers infected with Fasciola parasites are either partially (trim off affected sections) or totally condemned. Although it is difficult to quantify the economic losses due to fascioliasis, farmers in Busia and other parts of the country lose an estimate of £7 million Kenyan meat every year. The high condemnation of Fasciola infested livers of slaughtered cattle throughout Kenya (10% to 60% livers per annum), calls for urgent attention in order to forestall further losses. Comparatively, the losses in sheep and goats is moderately lower as it ranges between 3% to 15%. The variation between cattle, sheep and goats losses could be due to the fact that majority of sheep and goats infected with fascioliasis tend to die before reaching slaughter age as above explained.

For a long time, sedimentation technique has been relied on in diagnosing fascioliasis. However, other newer techniques have been developed such Kato-katz that is more sensitive in detecting Fasciola eggs, Schistosoma bovis and other helminth eggs. The sedimentation technique is used both by KARI and ILRI in the PAZ project but kato-katz has also been adopted by the latter. From our studies we have been able to show that fascioliasis is most prevalent in swampy areas.

Although effective control of fascioliasis should be targeted at the parasite or the intermediate host (snail) level, the latter method is by far the most popular. Chemical molluscides such as copper sulphate and N-trityl morpholine though quite effective in controlling snail hosts have limited application due to the associated environmental implications and their effect on non-target acquatic organisms. In the late 1980s, KARI validated the use of Eucalyptus globosus leaves as a snail control strategy. Though this strategy was very effective, its application is almost impractical owing to the hydrological effect of Eucalyptus tree species cause to the environment. This means that the current and future fascioliasis control will largely be dependent on anthelmintics. This method of fascioliasis control though popular, has certain disadvantages including the prohibitively high cost of anthelmintic drugs, increased risk of consuming meat and milk containing drug residues and the risk of drug resistance. In our study the infected animals are normally treated using effective conventional anti-fasciola drugs.

Other posts you might also want to read in the ‘A Day in the Life of the PAZ project’ series:

• About the People, Animals and their Zoonoses Project
• Pig farming and slaughtering in Western Kenya
• Laboratory diagnostic of diseases hosted by animals in the PAZ project area
• Tapeworm [taeniasis] infestation in Busia

About the author

George Omondi is a laboratory technician working with the  PAZ- ILRI project on secondment from KARI. In his past research career, he has been working in the field of veterinary helminthology and he has been involved in many such research projects in Kenya. Currently he has developed an interest in epidemiology of fascioliasis in cattle.

Commercial vaccines based on the tick gut protein Bm86 have been successful in controlling the one-host tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus and provide heterologous protection against certain other non-target ixodid tick species. This cross protection, however, does not extend to the three-host tick R. appendiculatus, the vector of the protozoan parasite Theileria parva. When transmitted to cattle, T. parva causes the often fatal disease East Coast fever. Here, we used insect cell-expressed recombinant versions of the R. appendiculatus homologs of Bm86, named Ra86, to vaccinate cattle. We measured multiple fitness characteristics for ticks that were fed on cattle Ra86-vaccinated or unvaccinated. The Ra86 vaccination of cattle significantly decreased the molting success of nymphal ticks to the adult stage. Modeling simulations based on our empirical data suggest that repeated vaccinations using Ra86 could reduce tick populations over successive generations. Vaccination with Ra86 could thus form a component of integrated control strategies for R. appendiculatus leading to a reduction in use of environmentally damaging acaricides.

Citation: Olds, C., Mwaura, S., Crowder, D., Odongo, D., Oers, M. van, Owen, J., Bishop, R. and Daubenberger, C. 2012. Immunization of cattle with Ra86 impedes Rhipicephalus appendiculatus nymphal-to-adult molting. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases. Read more

Soon after her studies, Maria got an internship opportunity at ILRI in 2010 where she worked in the AVID project and was later on employed as a research technician in the same project where she worked on sample preparation for whole genome sequencing and optimization of primers.

In her position at AVID she learnt how to carry out whole genome sequencing using 454 next generation sequencer, a fairly new, less than 2 years old technique where in Africa is only used in Kenya and South Africa. Fascinated by this new technique that enables one to carry out high throughput sequencing and by the words of her mentor Prof. Irungu, who constantly encouraged her to aim higher in her career she applied for an AusAID scholarship and was successful in her application.

She commences her PhD studies this July at Deakin University, Australia which will focus on whole genome SNPs analysis of Culicoides, an insect that causes Blue Tongue disease. Currently very little information about this disease in Kenya is available, yet from her field work in Busia and Marigat in Kenya, she has observed a significant presence of the vector of this disease. Through her study, she hopes to establish the vectorial capacity of the Culicoides species in Kenya in order to ascertain the threat posed by their presence in Kenya.

Maria credits her ILRI supervisor Dr. Steve Kemp who has been very supportive of her work, enabling her to achieve immense growth in her scientific career in the last 2 years and even now when she embarks on her dream journey to attain her PhD.

1. Did you always envisage a career in animal research as an immunologist? 

After my graduate degree in chemistry at Free university, Brussels, I taught chemistry at the same university for 7 years and for some time I aspired to become a teacher! During that period, I did my PhD in immuno chemistry where I studied gene expression and the changes in animals’ biology that fascinated me a lot, this is where my interest in immunology was stirred and the journey to my career as an immunologist began.

2. What made you decide to come and work in Kenya?

While I was teaching I had an opportunity to attend a conference at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp where I met a scientist carrying out research in Kenya who informed me of some of the opportunities for an immunologist at ILRI, back then it was ILRAD, which appealed to me. There was also the fact that I wasn’t keen on doing military service which every male in Belgium had to do back in the 1980s and coming to work in a developing country automatically meant no military service! These two factors combined made it an opportunity that I could not resist.

3. How was your early scientific career like when you joined ILRI and what kept you going?

When I joined ILRAD in the early 1980s my initial assignment was to do research on East Coast fever (ECF) and to find a way to separate infected from uninfected cells. During that period immunology made a big leap through  the use of monoclonal antibodies that allowed immunologists to dissect the immune system. This was also the era when immunologists began to understand how cancer cells were working and we in Theileria research started to link the data from cancer cells research with the transformation event observed with Theileria parva, the parasitic protozoa that causes ECF. This was a remarkable period in science, a lot of information was now becoming available and suddenly we had the right tools for our animal research. All this was happening during my earlier years as a scientist in Kenya, and I grew more passionate about the immunology of parasitic diseases, since then there was no turning back.

4. You were part of the reputable team that made the major breakthrough in studying the immunology of cattle, how was this possible and what was the experience like?  

The immunology jump availed the right tools (monoclonal antibodies that identified the different functional immune cell populations) for immunology research in livestock. Prior to this, such tools were only available for human and mouse research. Once we got our panel of antibodies at ILRI, we could discriminate T and B cells, and recognize the different types of functional T lymphocytes and explain some key characteristics in the makeup of cattle, for instance why some animals were able to protect themselves from various diseases while others were not. For ECF, we discovered that protection was mediated by killer cells and gave us hope for finding a new experimental ECF vaccine. In trypanosomiasis, the tools allowed us to conclude that some cattle were typanotolerant because they had better innate responses.

5. Why did you stop working on those diseases?

Working on trypanosomiasis, I quickly realized that the possibility for developing a vaccine was very slim and probably impossible. Once I also showed that trypanotolerance was not the result of a protective immune response, I decided that, as an immunology expert, there was now little that I could do to help find a solution to bovine trypanosomiasis. However I think that there is still a possibility to improve on a sporozoite vaccine.

6. You joined the CBPP research team in 2009, what are some the factors that drew you to it?

Firstly, the current live vaccine has been successful in eliminating CBPP from certain areas in Africa, despite the fact that it has a low efficacy and gives short immunity (between half and one year), implying that we do not have to develop a vaccine that is 100% effective to already make a serious impact in the field. Secondly, there were a number of preliminary experiments that provided evidence that inactivated bacteria can induce protection, this means that a subunit vaccine that would offer better protection, longer immunity and avoid the cold chain storage might be possible. Finally, the time frame to show proof of concept for a possible dead vaccine would not be so long.

7. What are some of the challenges in CBPP research?

Few scientists are working on this disease, and the amount of reliable data about CBPP is rather small. For example, we do not know which immune responses provide protection, nor the pathogen antigens that induce protection, nor how the pathogen causes disease, why it only affects cattle or what causes virulence. One does not necessarily have to know all these answers to develop a vaccine, but more information would certainly help. Few laboratories in the developed world, with good infrastructure for rapid research progress, work on the pathogen because of restrictions in their countries that are now free of CBPP. And since CBPP is only a problem in Africa, it is a neglected disease that attracts little commitment from the developed world. Finally, most research carried out on CBPP is haphazard with few systematic approaches to tackle this disease.

8. Are you optimistic about CBPP research and getting a more efficient and improved vaccine for it?

Back when I was a child a tetanus vaccine had to be repeated every year to remain effective, but now the vaccine is given after every 10 years because the delivery systems have improved. This is exactly the kind of effect we expect to work for CBPP, the goal is to get a vaccine that gives longer immunity. If you insist, to carry out the experiments that would confirm the possibility for such a vaccine (not the vaccine itself) would take maximum 3-4 years. So, yes am very optimistic about finding a better vaccine or a subunit vaccine that will be more efficient.

9. What are some of the things that you find fascinating about being a scientist and lessons you have learnt along the way?

What fascinates me most is that nature always surprises us. There are times when you think that you have understood the nature of a problem and expect a particular kind of outcome to an experiment only to get a totally unexpected result that can lead to different insights and contribute to new knowledge. Science is therefore very interesting and dynamic contrary to popular belief that it is boring, there is always something new.

The appreciation and recognition from colleagues in the profession and their use of our results, methods and tools has been very encouraging and keeps us ticking. Another boost is to see our students becoming successful in their own right.

10. What would you say a successful scientific career entails?

A scientific career is all about reputation, whether in finding a job, getting your papers published or your proposals funded. You start building your reputation or career with your PhD and here quality of your work is more important than quantity. Make sure you have a nice science-detective story to tell your audience and your interviewers. Learn how to captivate their interest, and show off how your creativity was central in solving the puzzle. For a more established scientist, the impact of your research becomes more important.

Finally, don’t spoil your reputation and attempt to manipulate data, however small the transgression. Continuously improved and open source software now allows anyone to systematically scan peer-reviewed papers, however long ago they were published, for signs of fraud: do data sets obey Benford’s law, have photos been manipulated, has text been dishonestly copied. Surprisingly, the occurrence of small fraud is much higher than everyone expected, with embarrassing consequences even for some renowned scientists… and the search is continuing. Expect some fireworks.

11. Away from science what do you like to do?

My interests have been changing over the years, when I was younger I used to love playing classical music and that almost got me a career as classical guitar teacher. Once in Kenya, I loved to fly small aircraft as a private pilot, discovering the beautiful landscapes all over Kenya and participating in all kinds of navigational competitions. Currently I love hiking mountains in different parts of Kenya and East Africa, in addition to my regular runs that keep me fit for playing with my grandson!

PENAPH will be holding a technical workshop to bring together trainers, practitioners and others interested in Participatory Epidemiology (PE) and its applications in animal health, one health and ecohealth. The organization of the workshop is supported by a grant to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) from the Rockefeller Foundation through the Empowering National and Regional Stakeholders Grant. The Veterinary Public Health Centre for Asia Pacific (VPHCAP) at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University has graciously agreed to host the meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The program activities include keynote speeches and presentations of papers, discussion forums, poster sessions and social events. Discussion forums, oral and poster presentations will be given in English. Electronic proceedings will be produced that contain the papers presented and results of discussion forums.

More details and communications concerning the Technical Workshop will be posted on www.penaph.net and broadcast by E-mail to PENAPH members.

Call for abstracts

Abstracts are warmly invited for both oral and poster presentations at the 2012 PENAPH Technical Workshop. Please submit abstracts on work related to any of the following topics:

• Participatory Epidemiology: lessons learned and perspectives – what worked, what didn’t, why and how?
• Methods for assessment and evaluation of surveillance programs that include Participatory Disease Surveillance
• Validation of participatory tools in epidemiology and comparison of Participatory Epidemiology with conventional research methods
• How to integrate Participatory Epidemiology and Participatory Disease Surveillance with conventional research and surveillance methods in animal health, one health and ecohealth?
• Participatory impact assessment of health related activities
• Innovative approaches from qualitative and semi-quantitative research methods in fields other than animal health, one health & eco-health (e.g. social sciences, human epidemiology, or public health).

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 1st July 2012. All abstracts submitted will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee of the PENAPH Technical Workshop. All authors will be contacted by 15th August 2012 and informed if their submission has been selected as an oral or poster presentation at the PENAPH Technical Workshop. The presenting author must register for the workshop by 30^th September 2012.

For more information about the abstract submission and requirements, please read the short description on the PENAPH website at http://penaph.net/first-technical-workshop or download the abstract template.

About PENAPH

The Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and Public Health (PENAPH) is a partnership of organizations and individuals that seek to facilitate the continued development and application of participatory methods in epidemiology. PENAPH partners include animal health and public health partners committed to one health and ecohealth approaches. The overall goal of PENAPH is to enhance epidemiological services in the developing world by making them more representative of and responsive to the needs of beneficiaries. Jeff Mariner ILRI, scientists is the coordinator and ILRI’s focal person for the networks.