Background: Brucellosis is a contagious bacterial disease, which affects domestic animals, humans, and wildlife in Ethiopia and other countries. Methods: A cross-sectional study design using a simple random sampling technique was conducted in Diga, Guto, Gida, and Sibu Sire districts of East Wollega Zone, Western Oromia, from November 2019 to July 2020 to determine the prevalence of bovine brucellosis and identify associated risk factors. A lottery method was used during serum collection and risk factors identified during interview. Results: A total of 1152 serum samples were collected from cattle of 6 months age and above. Serum samples were tested by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (I-ELISA). An overall seroprevalence of brucellosis was 1.82% (21/1152). Statically significant variation (P< 0.05) in seroprevalence of bovine brucellosis was recorded among potential risk factors such as breed [P≤ 0.05; OR:8.905; CI:1.568– 50.573], parity [P≤ 0.05; OR:0.017; CI:0.042– 5.195], retained fetal membrane [P≤ 0.001; OR:0.018; CI:0.00– 2.169], and abortion history [P≤ 0.001; OR:0.030; CI:0.004– 0.212]. Conversely, seroprevalence variations in sex, district, villages, body condition score, and age were statistically insignificant (P> 0.05). Conclusion: The current study revealed bovine brucellosis is posing a threat to livestock with no strict control and prevention scheme in place. Therefore, public awareness creation about the zoonotic importance of the disease is crucial and the Government should establish legislation, support, control, and prevention of the disease recommended.

Tuberculous lymphadenitis (TBLN) diagnosis has been a true challenge solely by clinical evidence in developing countries, due to limited the diagnostic facility on hand. However, the availability and affordability of available diagnostic tools in resource-limited settings like Ethiopia necessitates the quest for other techniques with added value over direct Z-N microscopy. Therefore, we aimed at to assess whether the concentration of lymph node aspirate similarly improves the detection rate of tuberculous lymphadenitis or not. A cross-sectional study design was conducted on 132 individual subjects presumptive for tuberculous lymphadenitis from February to October 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Fine needle aspirate (FNA) samples were collected from the cases and cultured on Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) slants. Identification of species and strains of mycobacteria was made by region of difference (RD) based polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Data entry and statistical analyses were performed by SPSS version 20. The confidence level of 95% was used for statistical significance. A total of 132 study subjects were included in our study. Of these 56.1% (74/132) were positive for M. tuberculosis on culture. The detection rate of direct smear microscopy and the concentration method were 29.5 and 65.2% respectively. The sensitivity of direct smear microscopy was 43.2%, for concentrated smear microscopy 94.5%, for PCR 93.2% and for cytomorphology 95.4%. The level of agreement of concentrated ZN smear microscopy was 0.62 which was very similar with kappa of 0.58 of molecular (PCR) technique. AFB positivity by the concentration method and molecular method was increased in caseous aspirates as compared to purulent and hemorrhagic aspirates though it was not statistically significant (p-value = 0.18) and (p = 0.62) respectively. The concentration of FNA (Fine Needle Aspirate) aspirates for acid-fast smear microscopy similarly improves the sensitivity of acid fast bacilli in diagnosing of TBLN.

Listeriosis is an important foodborne zoonotic disease affecting humans and animals in Ethiopia. This review aims to synthesize the epidemiology, prevalence, distribution, and antimicrobial resistance of Listeria species in the country. The literature reveals a widespread occurrence of Listeria infection in humans, animals, and food products, with an average prevalence of 21.6% for Listeria species and 6.9% for L. monocytogenes. Three sequence types (STs) of L. monocytogenes (2, 145, and 18) and twelve STs of L. innocua (1489, 1619, 603, 537, 1010, 3186, 492, 3007, 1087, 474, 1008, and 637) were reported from milk and dairy products. Contamination rates ranged from 4.1% to 42.9% across livestock, dairy, slaughterhouses, and processing facilities, indicating faults in production practices. Sporadic human listeriosis outbreaks have occurred since 1967, causing meningitis, perinatal infections, and deaths, with recent studies showing L. monocytogenes isolation in up to 10.4% of febrile patients, confirming foodborne transmission. Non-pathogenic Listeria species were also common on farms and in facilities. Ovine listeriosis poses a threat to Ethiopia’s sheep and goat industries, with over 40% seroprevalence in some herds. Comprehensive control measures across the food chain are needed to curb contamination and protect public health. Isolates from various foods show antibiotic resistance to first-line agents but susceptibility to others like gentamicin and cephalosporins. In conclusion, this review synthesizes evidence on Listeria distribution in Ethiopia’s food system and disease burden, highlighting the need for improved food safety policies and awareness.

Brucellosis is one of the major zoonotic diseases yet prevalent in Ethiopia. It is contagious and has harmful effects on free animal movement and export. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017 in the Loko and Uke peasant association of Guto Gida District. The goal of this study is to determine the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of bovine brucellosis. The questionnaire survey was conducted on 200 respondents to collect the livestock owner’s perception of this disease. Eighty (80) blood samples were collected from grazing cattle above six months of age. Serum was tested by complement fixation test (CFT) for Brucella antibody detection. Pearson chi-square is used to assess the relation of independent variables such as sex, site, and age with seroprevalence in a 95% confidence interval if value is less than 0.05, recoded as significant. Seroprevalence of bovine brucellosis in the present study is 22.5%. Bovine brucellosis prevalence recorded in Uke (28.6%) was higher than that in Loko (21.2%). Again bovine brucellosis is higher in males (30.4%) than females (19.2%). There is prevalence variation among site, sex, and age which is statistically insignificant ( value>0.05). Survey findings revealed that 52% (104/200) of respondents did not know the causes of abortion, while 48% (96/200) of them confirmed abortion in their herd and 64% (124/200) of respondents removed retained fetal membrane by themselves. Brucellosis is a contagious reproductive disease of cattle with zoonotic implications and needs to design and implement control measures aiming at preventing further spread of the disease.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a zoonotic disease that can spread from animals to humans as well as from human to human. Little research has been conducted on bovine tuberculosis prevalence and molecular characterization in the western part of Ethiopia. To investigate this, a cross‐sectional study was conducted on slaughtered cattle at the Nekemte municipal abattoir between January 2020 and June 2021. A detailed postmortem examination, culture, acid‐fast staining technique, molecular characterization using RD4 deletion, and spoligotyping were all carried out. Based on a detailed postmortem examination, the overall prevalence of bovine tuberculosis was 7.8% (80 of 1020). Mycobacterium isolation confirmed only 12.5% (10/80) of the suspected tuberculosis tissue lesions. With acid‐fast bacilli staining, all Mycobacterium spp. isolates (n = 10) were positive. However, only 9/10 isolates were confirmed to be M. bovis with RD4 molecular deletion typing. Spoligotyping revealed that 55.6% (5/9) of the isolate patterns had previously been reported, but 44.4% (4/9) of the isolates were new. In the current investigation, it was discovered that 80% (4/5) of the M. bovis strains circulating in the cattle population of study regions were SB2233 (2/5) and SB0134 (2/5), whereas 20% (1/5) of the strains corresponded to SB1176, which is compatible with previously documented M. bovis spoligotypes. These findings suggested that M. bovis was the main cause of bovine tuberculosis in the study area and posed a risk of disease transmission from cattle to humans due to low levels of public health awareness. As such, improved awareness among citizens and the development of control policies are warranted.

Background: Infectious bronchitis (IB) is an economically important disease in poultry with worldwide distribution. The occurrence of IB has been reported both in commercial and backyard poultry in Ethiopia, although comprehensive information lacks available prevalence of the disease and the circulating serotypes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2021 to June 2022 in seven commercial farms found in East Shewa, Central Ethiopia. Serological assay using indirect ELISA, virus isolation techniques in embryonated eggs, and molecular techniques such as one-step reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting a 466 bp S1 gene were employed. Results: A total of 196 blood samples, 7 pools (35) of swab samples, and 5 pools of tracheal samples were investigated. The results of serological analysis revealed that 97.96% (192/196; 95% CI: 94.86– 99.44) of the sera samples were found to be positive for antibodies against IBV. Out of the 7 pools of swab and 5 pools of tracheal tissue samples analyzed using RT-PCR 33.3% (4/12) of them gave positive results all from swab samples. The RT-PCR-positive samples were subjected to a nested PCR yielding 295bp and 154bp indicating the circulation of Mass and 793/B (4/91) strains of IBV, respectively. The 12 pools of samples inoculated into embryonated egg showed cytopathic changes such as congestion, bleeding, and deformation only after three passages. Conclusion: Two serotypes of IBV are circulating in Ethiopian chickens, and molecular identification of the Massachusetts serotype is the first report in Ethiopia. Further epidemiological investigation is needed in order to devise effective control measures.