Prevalence and economic effects of non typhoidal salmonella infection in wild and domestic animals around Ruaha National Park Ecosystem, Tanzania
Loading...
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Non-typhoidal Salmonella infection is one of the zoonotic conditions caused by Gram
negative bacteria of the genus Salmonella, which belong to the family
Enterobacteriaceae. Non-typhoidal Salmonella infection is an important foodborne
infection particularly in immunocompromised humans. This study assessed the
prevalence and economic impact of non-typhoidal Salmonella infections in wild and
domestic animals around the Ruaha National Park Ecosystem and the study was
conducted in 2021. A laboratory analysis of 215 fecal samples from wild animals
(108 samples) and domestic animals (107 samples) was carried out to determine the
prevalence of non-typhoidal Salmonella infection after the samples were enriched in
Selenite F broth and incubated for 24 hours. The samples were primarily cultured on the
Salmonella Shigella agar (SSA) and subsequently on MacConkey and blood agar to
observe any swarming. Gram staining was conducted to check whether the suspected
colonies were Gram negative since Salmonellae belong to this group. Confirmatory
biochemical tests were conducted using the Triple Sugar Iron (TSI) test, IMViC tests,
oxidase and catalase tests and molecular confirmation was done by extracting the DNA
followed by a conventional multiplex PCR. Laboratory analysis revealed that non-
typhoidal Salmonella infection was absent in the wild and domestic animals. A structured
questionnaire was administered to assess the awareness and economic impact of non-
typhoidal Salmonella infection. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was done to assess
the awareness, estimated costs of resources lost as well as the costs used for treatment
of animals with non-typhoidal Salmonella infections at P-value 0.05. Findings from this
study revealed that for the past five years until year 2020, 20% of the livestock keepers
were aware of non-typhoidal Salmonella infection. The study showed that for the past five
years until year 2020 the infection had negative economic impact since 102,140 Tsh. was
estimated to be spent per year in controlling non-typhoidal Salmonella infection while
680,100 Tsh. was the estimated amount of lost resources because of non-typhoidal
Salmonella infection. Therefore, from the findings, we recommend that the responsible
government sectors should invest in more research on non-typhoidal Salmonella infection
on other national park ecosystems as well as other zoonoses but also add effort in
increasing awareness of zoonoses to the communities. This will help livestock keepers
improve the animal rearing methods hence reducing the incidences of zoonotic diseases
particularly non-typhoidal Salmonella infection.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Non-typhoidal Salmonella infection, Zoonotic conditions, Wild-domestic animals, Ruaha National Park Ecosystem, Tanzania