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Outbreak of acute bovine dermatophytosis in a large scale dairy herd in Arusha region of Tanzania is described. Clinical history of the condition complimented with detailed examination of the affected animals (33.3%, 14/42) revealed that animals were pastured during the day and padlocked at night. The main clinical signs presented were gray-white, discrete, crusty, circumscribed extensive lesion all over the body. Skin scrapings were taken from the lesions for mites and fungal isolation and characterization. Pinched off lesion were examined in 30 % KOH preparations and scrapping were directly streaked on 0 Trichophyton Agar and incubated at 37 C. Bacteriological and fungal stain of the colonies revealed positive mycotic structures spherical, pyriform to calvate often of irregular shape which is characteristic of Trychophyton verrucosum. The isolation and morphological identification of T. verrucosum supported the clinical diagnosis. Considering the large number of animals involved, and the severity of the lesions, that necessitated veterinary intervention, it would be necessary to asses the prevalence and economic importance of the disease in dairy herd establishments in Tanzania.Arusha, Cattle, Tanzania, T. verrucosum

A study of infectious bursal disease (IBD) or ‘Gumboro disease’ seroprevalence rates in healthy, non-vaccinated indigenous scavenging chickens in northern Tanzania was conducted in November and December 2009 on 362 chickens raised in a traditional management system. Individual bird and flock-level information was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire, and serum samples were screened for IBD virus (IBDV) antibodies using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The study revealed high rates of IBDV antibodies, yielding an overall seropositive rate of 58.8 % and with at least one positive bird detected in 82.8 % (74/90) of flocks. Univariate logistic regression analysis revealed that seropositivity to IBDV varied significantly (χ2 = 16.1, P < 0.001) between the study sites. The flock seroprevalence was found to vary from 37.5 % to 91 % between districts and from 75%to 90%between regions. The results of this study showed that IBD is an endemic and widely distributed disease in northern Tanzania

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