The objective of this study was to characterize the distribution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolated from livestock feces and soil in smallholder livestock systems. A cross-sectional study was carried out sampling 77 randomly selected households in four districts representing two agroecologies and production systems. E. coli was isolated and the susceptibility to 15 antimicrobials was assessed. Of 462 E. coli isolates tested, resistance to at least one antimicrobial was detected in 52% (43.7–60.8) of isolates from cattle fecal samples, 34% (95% CI, 26.2–41.8) from sheep samples, 58% (95% CI, 47.9–68.2) from goat samples and 53% (95% CI, 43.2–62.4) from soil samples. AMR patterns for E. coli from livestock and soil showed some similarities, with the highest prevalence of resistance detected against streptomycin (33%), followed by amoxycillin/clavulanate (23%) and tetracycline (8%). The odds of detecting E. coli resistance to ≥2 antimicrobials in livestock fecal samples were nearly three times (Odd Ratio—OR: 2.9; 95% CI, 1.72–5.17; p = 0.000) higher in lowland pastoral than in highland mixed crop–livestock production systems. These findings provide insights into the status of resistance in livestock and soil, and associated risk factors in low-resource settings in Ethiopia.

A cross-sectional study was carried out from April 2015 to June 2016 to estimate the status of bovine tuberculosis (BTB), assessment of community's current knowledge, and zoonotic importance on this disease in Borana zone, southern Ethiopia. In this study, comparative intradermal tuberculin (CIDT) test, structured questionnaires, and retrospective data were used, while the result indicated 3.8% prevalence at individual animal level with 5.6% (31/554) of doubtful reactors. Among related risk factors included, old animals were significantly infected by BTB than young one (χ = 32.005, P = 0.001). Parity number again showed significant difference (χ = 29.163, P = 0.001) where animals with many parity were more reactive to conducted test than few parity numbers. Animals born in the breeding center managed under semi-intensive production system were more infected (χ = 10.795, P = 0.029) than those brought from outside of the center. Questionnaire survey in this study indicated that out of 130 interviewed respondents, only 30% pastoralists knew what BTB mean; whereas the level of individual knowledge from interviewed showed about 72.3% of respondents had poor understanding of BTB and only about 11.5% of them knew its zoonotic importance. Meat eating habit of communities in the area were culturally inhabited to eat cooked meat and only 12.3% (16/130) of respondents gave response on habit of eating both raw and cooked meat. Milk drinking habit of pastoralist in the area showed about 79.2% drunk raw milk and the rest 20.8% used both raw and boiled milk. A retrospective data from Yabello Hospital indicated that current prevalence of human TB as 38.79% and showing the disease was highly increasing from year to year in the study area. This implies a great importance of human tuberculosis and its future concern in Borana zone. From this, there should be detail awareness of communities on BTB, its zoonotic importance, and the need of further investigation to develop control and prevention strategies according to the pastoral settings.

Introduction Brucellosis is a neglected bacterial zoonosis with serious veterinary and public health importance throughout the world. A cross-sectional study on animal brucellosis was conducted aiming to estimate seroprevalence and molecular detection. Methods Blood samples were collected from a total of 4274 individual animals (cattle, small ruminants and camel) from 241 herds/flocks for serology and PCR. Serum samples were tested using multispecies I-ELISA. Blood clots from seropositive animals were also tested for brucellosis via PCR. Additionally, 13 vaginal swab samples were collected from animals (2 from bovine and 11 from small ruminants) with recent abortion history for bacterial isolation and molecular detection. Results The overall individual animal and herd level seroprevalence was 3.95% (169/4274) and 18.26% (44/241) respectively. The animal level seroprevalence at species level was 1.58% (47/2982), 8.89% (97/1091) and 12.44% (25/201) in bovine, small ruminants (sheep and goat) and camel, respectively. Herd level seroprevalence were 5.43% (10/184), 52.08% (25/48) and 100% (9/9) in bovine, small ruminant and camel, respectively. The animal level seroprevalence of bovine from intensive and extensive systems was 1.10% (31/2808) and 2.87% (5/174) respectively. Blood clots tested for brucellosis via PCR were negative by RT-PCR. Brucella species was isolated from 6/13 (46.15%) vaginal swab samples cultured on Brucella selective agar, and shown to be B. melitensis using Real-Time PCR. Conclusion Overall, seropositivity for camels was higher than what has been reported previously. Also, there was a notable difference in this study in cattle seroprevalence when comparing extensive with intensive systems, with the extensive system having much greater seropositivity.

Background: Brucellosis is one of the most frequent contagious neglected bacterial diseases with serious veterinary and public health importance throughout the world. A cross-sectional study on animal brucellosis was conducted from October 2018 to July 2019 in southern and central Ethiopia with the objective of estimating seroprevalence and molecular detection. Blood samples were collected for serum extraction from a total of 4274 individual animals (cattle, small ruminants and camel) from 241 herds/flocks. Blood clots from seropositive animals were also tested for brucellosis via molecular techniques. Additionally, 13 vaginal swab samples were collected from animals with recent abortion history for bacterial isolation and molecular detection.Results: The extracted serum samples were tested using multispecies I-ELISA and the overall individual animal and herd level seroprevalence was 3.95% (169/4274) and 18.26% (44/241) respectively. The animal level seroprevalence at species level was 1.58%, 8.89%, 12.44% in bovine, small ruminants (sheep and goat) and camel, respectively. Herd level seroprevalence were 5.43%, 52.08%, 100% in bovine, small ruminant and camel, respectively. The animal and herd level seroprevalence of bovine from intensive and extensive systems was 1.1%, 2.87% and 9.2%, 50.00% respectively. Brucella species was isolated from 6/13 (46.15%) vaginal swab samples cultured on brucella selective agar, and shown to be B.melitensis using Real-Time PCR. All of the blood clots from seropositive animals were negative for the presence of Brucellaspp with PCR.Conclusions: In the regions sampled animals in all three categories – cattle, sheep/goats, and camels – mostly had low seroprevalence rates for brucellosis, without great differences from previous serosurveys done in Ethiopia. However, seropositivity for camels was higher than what has been reported previously. Also, there was a notable difference in this study in cattle seroprevalence when comparing extensive with intensive systems, with the extensive system being much higher.

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