BackgroundTicks and tick-borne diseases undermine cattle fitness and productivity in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. In this West African country, cattle are challenged by numerous tick species, especially during the wet season. Consequently, several TBDs are known to be endemic in Nigerian cattle, including anaplasmosis, babesiosis, cowdriosis and theilerioris (by Theileria mutans and Theileria velifera). To date, all investigations on cattle TBDs in Nigeria have been based on cytological examinations and/or on serological methods. This study aimed to ascertain the occurrence of tick-borne pathogens of veterinary and zoonotic importance in cattle in Nigeria using molecular approaches.MethodsIn October 2008, 704 whole blood samples were collected from indigenous cattle in the Plateau State, Nigeria. Analysis for tick-borne pathogens was conducted by means of PCR-based reverse line blotting (RLB) and sequencing targeting a panel of five genera of microorganisms (i.e. Babesia, Theileria, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia and Rickettsia spp.).ResultsIn total, 561/704 (82.6 %) animals were found infected, with 465 (69.6 %) of them being infected by two or more microorganisms, with up to 77 possible combinations of pathogens detected. Theileria mutans was the most prevalent microorganism (66.3 %), followed by Theileria velifera (52.4 %), Theileria taurotragi (39.5 %), Anaplasma marginale (39.1 %), Anaplasma sp. (Omatjenne) (34.7 %), Babesia bigemina (7.9 %), Anaplasma centrale (6.3 %), Anaplasma platys (3.9 %), Rickettsia massiliae (3.5 %), Babesia bovis (2.0 %) and Ehrlichia ruminantium (1.1 %). Calves were found significantly less infected than juvenile and adult cattle.ConclusionsThis study provides updated, molecular-based information on cattle TBDs in Nigeria. The molecular approach employed allowed the diagnosis of numerous positive cases including carrier statuses, multiple infections and novel pathogen detections within the indigenous cattle population. Moreover, the RLB method here described enabled the detection of veterinary agents not only pertaining to bovine health, including also those of zoonotic importance.The high prevalence recorded for T. mutans, T. velifera, A. marginale, T. taurotragi and Anaplasma sp. (Omatjenne), suggests they may be endemically established in Nigeria, whereas the lower prevalence recorded for other microorganisms (i.e. A. centrale and B. bovis) highlights a less stable epidemiological scenario, requiring further investigations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1504-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Presently, the global public health threat of international concern is the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), a viral disease of worldwide prevalence caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), at present the disease has no known cure or vaccine. Plants worldwide including plants of African ethnopharmacological relevance are a natural source of abundant and diverse phytochemicals with bioactivity against microorganisms including viruses. We selected 13 plants used in African traditional medicine for the treatment of viral diseases to screen for phytochemicals capable of interfering with SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic targets using AutoDock Vina in silico tool. 25 phytochemicals from these plants that passed the Lipinski rule of drug-likeness were assessed for antiviral activity against three SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic targets, namely: spike glycoprotein, Papain-like protease and 3C-like proteinase. The crystal structure of the viral protein targets was obtained from the protein databank website (https://www.rcsb.org/). The active sites of the target proteins were predicted using SCFBio Server (http://www.scfbio-iitd.res.in/dock/ActiveSite.jsp) from the PDB file as input. The antiviral herbal phytochemical compounds were then docked with prepared targets: Papain-like protease, 3C-like proteinase and spike glycoprotein. The Autodocking hit results generated six lead phytochemicals out of a library of twenty-five (25) phytochemicals from the African traditional herbs with potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. The lead molecules with their binding affinities against Papain-like protease and 3C-Like Proteinase are as follows: Ginsenosides (-9.9 kcal/mol), ursolic acid (-9.4 kcal/mol), oleanolic acid (-9.4 kcal/mol), cynarine (-8.9 kcal/mol), glabridin (-8.5 kcal/mol) and cinnamoyl-echinadiol (-8.2 kcal/mol). ADMET profile shows glabridin, cinnamoyl-echinadiol and neral obtained from Licorice, Echinacea purpurea and lemongrass respectively, exhibited best-fit values as drugs candidate. We advocate for further in vitro and in vivo studies to evaluate the activity of these lead compounds with a view to optimized drug intervention against COVID-19 pandemic.

Horses (Equus caballus) are animals of the equidae family which also includes donkeys (Equus asinus), mules, and zebra (Equus zebra). There are an estimated 110 million equines in the developing world (Ali and Yagoob 2015) and about 59 million horses in the world (FAO 2011). In Nigeria, the horse population is estimated to be 200,000 (FAO 2021). Indigenous horses have been used by institutional and private owners in Nigeria for several purposes such as for pleasure riding, polo games, ceremonies, crowd control, entertainment and research and very common in Northern and North Central Nigeria (Useh et al 2005;Bukar et al 2007;Ehizibolo et al 2011). Despite the important role of horses in day to day activities, there is a dearth of information on parasitic infection of horses in Jos North (Ehizibolo et al 2012;Mayaki 2017).Equines are animals of strength and might but the effects of GIPs can greatly limit their activities. Apparently healthy horses can harbour over half a million helminth parasites which may include trematodes, cestodes and nematodes (Martins et al 2009). These parasites are a major threat to the health and well-being of horses. The effects of these parasites are greatly evident in young and malnourished horses (Belay et al 2016). Class Nematoda is known to contains the most pathogenic helminths of livestock and companion animals, among the three classes of helminths (Nematoda, cestoda and trematoda) and hence affects livestock production worldwide (Oshadu et al 2021). Infected horse may show signs of weakness, emaciation, restlessness, unthriftiness, diarrhoea, anaemia, dull-rough hair coat, potbelly, decreased stamina or lethargy, coughing, colic, tail rubbing and sometimes intestinal obstruction or perforation (Stoltenow and Purdy 2003; Hiney and Giedt 2017). The socioeconomic impact of helminth infections is determined by a combination of factors majorly due to susceptibility of the Abstract There are several socio-economic constraints facing horses in Jos, Nigeria among which gastrointestinal parasites (GIPs) play important role in negatively impacting the health, productivity and well-being of horses and these greatly limits the efficiency and work potential of affected horses. The objectives of this study are to estimate the impact of GIP infection in Horses around Jos metropolis and to advise stakeholders appropriately. Faecal samples were collected from 108 horses comprising of 25 male horses and 83 female horses over a period of six months from February to July 2021 covering three months in the dry season and three months in the rainy season. The samples were analyzed for GIPs using standard flotation, sedimentation and McMaster faecal egg counting techniques. The overall prevalence of GIPs in this study was 82.41% out of which 51.85% were positive for single infection and 30.56% were positive for mixed infection. The GIPs found in this study were Strongylus spp., Strongyloides westeri, Trichonema spp., Eimeria leukarti, Anoplocephala spp., Fasciola gigantica, Parascaris equorum, Gastrodis...