Foodborne diseases, resulting from poor food handling and sanitation practices, are common public health problems globally. The primary contributing factors to potential foodborne disease outbreaks are often attributed to the poor perception and practices of food handlers regarding food safety. This study is aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude, and practices of food handlers working in public food service establishments in Lemi Kura subcity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2022 to September 2023, involving 400 food handlers from 20 randomly selected public food service establishments. Data were collected using a structured interview-administered questionnaire and an observational checklist. The collected data were entered into Microsoft Excel and then transferred to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were employed to summarize the data, and Pearson’s chi-square test was used to evaluate the association of sociodemographic factors with the knowledge, attitude, and practices of food handlers towards food safety. Of the 400 food handlers, 65.5% had good knowledge about food safety. All food handlers were knowledgeable that washing hand before handling food will reduce risk of poisoning, bacteria are the main cause of food poisoning, and temperature plays a big role in bacterial growth. This study also revealed that 65.3% of the food handlers had good attitude towards food safety and 55.3% of food handlers had good food handling practice. Based on the observation, 38.5% of food handlers had good food handling practice. Taking training, age, and work experience of food handlers have statistically significant ( ) association with good attitude towards food safety. Additionally, taking training, educational level, employment, and work experience of food handlers have statistically significant ( ) association with good practice towards food safety. However, there was no statistically significant association between all sociodemographic factors and knowledge about food safety. Good knowledge and attitude were also associated with good food handling practices of the respondents. Based on the observation, there was a statistically significant association between employment status and good food handling practice. In conclusion, the findings suggest the necessity for implementing formal educational and training programs aimed at positively influencing the knowledge and attitude of food handlers, subsequently improving their food handling practices.

Diseases from food of animal origin are common health problems in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was carried out to estimate health and economic burden, and to identify demographic factors associated with community awareness of foodborne zoonotic diseases in Amhara region, Ethiopia. Data was collected from 435 households in three towns: Gondar, Lalibela and Debark. A retrospective data was also collected from health records in each town. The health burden due to zoonotic diseases was estimated at 0.2, 0.1 and 1.3 DALYs per household per year and at 73.2, 146.6 and 1,689.5 DALYs out of 100,000 populations per year in Gondar, Lalibela and Debark, respectively. The overall health burden due to foodborne zoonotic diseases (aggregated over the 435 households in the three towns) was estimated to be 89.9 DALYs per 100,000 populations per year. The economic impact of foodborne zoonotic diseases in the three towns of Amhara regional state was 278.98 Ethiopian Birr (ETB) (1ETB = 0.025 US Dollar) per household per year and 121,355.68 ETB per year. Costs of preventive measures followed by costs of patients’ time made the highest contribution while costs of diagnosis made the lowest contribution to the total economic burden of foodborne zoonotic diseases. From a total of 435 respondents, 305 (70.1%) had known the presence of zoonotic diseases. Level of education, number of families in the house and income were highly associated with awareness of zoonosis. Although majority of respondents had known zoonotic diseases exists (70.1%) and disease can be acquired from animal source food (63.2%), the health and economic burden associated to foodborne zoonotic diseases are still high. Therefore, changing mindset and practical training aiming in controlling foodborne zoonotic diseases may be suggested to the community in the health improvement extension service.

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular and neurotropic apicomplexan protozoan parasite infecting almost all warm-blooded vertebrates including humans. To date in Ethiopia, no systematic study has been investigated on the overall effects of potential risk factors associated with seropositivity for Toxoplasma gondii among pregnant women and HIV infected individuals. We intended to determine the potential risk factors (PRFs) associated with seropositivity for Toxoplasma gondii from published data among pregnant women and HIV infected individuals of Ethiopia. Methodology: An systematic review of the previous reports was made. We searched PubMed, Science Direct, African Journals Online, and Google Scholar for studies with no restriction on the year of publication. All references were screened independently in duplicate and were included if they presented data on at least two risk factors. Meta-analysis using the random or fixed-effects model was made to calculate the overall effects for each exposure. Results: Of the 216 records identified, twenty-four reports met our eligibility criteria, with a total of 6003 individuals (4356 pregnant women and 1647 HIV infected individuals). The pooled prevalences of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies were found at 72.5% (95% CI: 58.7% - 83.1%) in pregnant women and 85.7% (95% CI: 76.3% - 91.8%) in HIV infected individuals. A significant overall effect of anti-Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity among pregnant women (p < 0.05) was witnessed with age, abortion history, contact with cats, cat ownership, having knowledge about toxoplasmosis, being a housewife and having unsafe water source. Age, cat ownership, and raw meat consumption were also shown a significant effect (p < 0.05) to anti-Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity among HIV infected individuals. Conclusions: This review showed gaps and drawbacks in the earlier studies that are useful to keep in mind to design accurate investigations in the future. The pooled prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies was found to be higher among pregnant women and HIV infected individuals. This suggests that thousands of immunocompromised individuals (pregnant women and HIV infected patients) are at risk of toxoplasmosis due to the sociocultural and living standards of the communities of Ethiopia. Appropriate preventive measures are needed to reduce the exposure to Toxoplasma gondii infection. Further studies to investigate important risk factors are recommended to support the development of more cost-effective preventive strategies.

Background: Antimicrobials are essential for human and animal health. Drug resistance to an antimicrobial agent follows the introduction of a new antimicrobial agent. Evidence suggests that the public plays an important role in the risk, increase, and spread of antimicrobial resistance. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the Gondar City residents regarding antimicrobial use and resistance. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to July 2021 on 400 randomly selected Gondar city residents using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The descriptive and chi-square tests were used to analyse the data. Results: The response rate was one hundred percent. Approximately 75% of respondents were men, with 32% having completed secondary school. Nearly 74% and 35% of participants were married and worked in various government jobs. Furthermore, 48%, 54%, and 50% of respondents, respectively, had moderate knowledge, a positive attitude, and good practice concerning antimicrobial use and resistance. The chi-square analysis revealed a significant (p < 0.05) disparity between knowledge and educational level, marital status, and position in the house. The respondents’ attitude levels were also significantly associated (p < 0.05) with their educational level, marital status, occupation, and position in the house. Respondents’ practice levels were also significantly associated (p < 0.05) with their educational level and occupation. The study also found a significant relationship between respondents’ knowledge and attitude (χ2 = 215.23, p ≤ 0.01), knowledge and practice (χ2 = 147.2, p ≤ 0.01), and attitude and practice (χ2 = 116.03, p ≤ 0.01). Conclusion: This study found that study participants had some misconceptions about antimicrobial use and resistance. As a result, both enforcing antimicrobial regulation and educating people about antimicrobial use are advised.

Background: Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is one of the most severe diseases of small ruminants, causing the loss of millions of dollars annually. A cross‐sectional study was conducted to determine the seroepidemiology of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) in unvaccinated sheep and goats in selected districts in Northwest Ethiopia.Objectives: The study was designed to investigate the epidemiology of PPRV in unvaccinated sheep and goats and risk factors in the study areas.Methods: A multi‐stage sampling was used to select study districts, villages and households with a random sampling approach. Study animals (403 sheep and goats) older than 5 months were selected with a systematic random sampling approach. From the animals, blood samples were aseptically collected and PPRV antibodies from the serum were analysed with enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: The overall seroprevalence of antibodies to PPRV was 32.5% in both species. It was higher in goats with a prevalence of 34.7% than in sheep (28.3%). District, herd size, sex, animal origin and grazing management were significantly associated with seropositivity of animals to PPRV antibodies. If an animal was from the Dangur district, it had 2.6 times higher chance of being positive than in the Dibati district (OR = 2.6, p = 0.01 and 95% CI = 1.2– 5.6). Herd size was also significantly correlated with the seropositivity with (OR = 4, p = 0.001, and 95% CI = 1.8–9). Also, male animals had 1.7 times higher chance of being positive than females. Further, if an animal comes from the market, it has 2.7 times higher chance of being positive compared to animals born and raised on the farm.Conclusions: The seropositivity indicates that the disease is circulating in the study areas. Hence, preventive approaches, like vaccination campaigns and strict biosecurity measures, are highly advised to avoid the catastrophic impact of the diseases if an outbreak occurs.

Background: Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (O157:H7) is the primary cause of bloody diarrhea or hemorrhagic colitis. The study was carried out with to determine the epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance pattern of E. coli O157:H7 along the dairy supply chains in Akaki Kaliti sub-city of Addis Ababa, Bishoftu and Sululta towns of central Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study design with random sampling methods was employed. Thus, a total of 450 raw cow milk (294), milker hand swab (65) and water (91) samples were collected from dairy farms, milk collection centers and Cafeterias and processed according to the standards to isolate and identify E. coli O157:H7. The samples were initially enriched in buffered peptone water, then plated onto Sorbitol MacConkey agar. Consequently, the suspected non-sorbitol fermenting colonies were confirmed as E. coli biochemically and serological test using latex agglutination tests. Results: Out of the total 450 samples examined, 6.0% were found to be contaminated by E. coli O157:H7. Accordingly, 9.89% of water, 9.23% of milker hand swab and 4.08% of raw milk samples were contaminated by the pathogen. Furthermore, the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 was 7.79%, 6.21% and 3.97% in Akaki kaliti sub-city, Sululta and Bishoftu towns, respectively. The result of Fisher exact analysis revealed a significant difference observed (p < 0.05) between the occurrence of the pathogen and the source of sample, sources of water used, sampled material and type of containers. The study also revealed that varying level of resistance of E. coli O157:H7 isolates against nine antimicrobial discs tested and 100% (n = 27) of the isolates showed multidrug-resistance comprising from two up to seven antimicrobial drugs. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study has indicated the occurrence of E. coli O157:H7 and its multiple drug-resistant profiles in milk samples along the dairy supply chains and its risk to public health and food safety. Therefore, proper hygienic practices from dairy farms to fork and rational drug usage are recommended.