Background: Animal health surveillance is essential to protecting public health, controlling animal diseases and accessing international animal trade with a view to ensuring food security. The practice of subsistent agriculture makes laboratory disease surveillance and statistics difficult or impracticable to implement. Many times, the information generated through conventional approach may not reflect true field situations. Therefore, animal health project interventions from conventional data may be difficult to implement. Community engagement, however, empowers and ensures lasting solutions to developmental challenges.Methods : Field experiences and a review of the origin, concepts, methods and tools of Participatory epidemiology (PE) in disease surveillance suggest their appropriate uses.Results : Community participation in animal and public health investigation, program design, implementation and monitoring is credited with ownership, acceptability and sustainability.Conclusion : This research highlights how and why participation is an essential component of a successful disease surveillance design and implementation. However, the success of any participatory program depends on understanding the bases and applications of the right tools.

The gizzard or ventriculus in birds is susceptible to mechanical damage or traumatic injuries referred to as traumatic ventriculitis when subjected to the causative agents. The condition affects both intensively and extensively managed birds. Palm kennel cake is commonly used as a chief source of protein and fat in poultry rations, most poultry that are kept intensively on deep litter system in the study area use wood shavings collected from carpentry workshops as litter material while poultry on extensive system of management have access to refuse dumps where sharp objects are commonly found. Traumatic ventriculitis can hardly be detected and managed clinically. From our clinical records, nails of various sizes, bolts and nuts, sharp objects like pieces of wood, palm kennel shells and wires of various sizes are the major causes of traumatic ventriculitis. Major causes of traumatic ventriculitis or hardware disease in poultry in the study areas are hereby discussed and three cases presented in chickens as case studies. Locally and manually compounded poultry feeds, access to refuse dumps, litter materials to be used in poultry houses and litters in poultry houses were renovation works had occurred should be screened for metallic and hard sharp objects to prevent or reduce risk of ingesting and the occurrence of hardware disease.

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