Solomon Gebre

Tuberculin skin tests (TST), the primary diagnostic tool for bovine tuberculosis (bTB), cross-react with BCG vaccine. Recently developed defined antigen skin tests (DSTs) aim to differentiate infected amongst vaccinated animals. We evaluated the field performance of different interpretations of the TST and DSTs relative to IGRA and IDEXX M. bovis a...

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is a multi-host pathogen with sheep and goats as main hosts. To investigate the role of cattle in the epidemiology of PPR, we simulated conditions similar to East African zero-grazing husbandry practices in a series of trials with local Zebu cattle (Bos taurus indicus) co-housed with goats (Capra aegagrus hir...

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a routinely used vaccine for protecting children against Mycobacterium tuberculosis that comprises attenuated Mycobacterium bovis . BCG can also be used to protect livestock against M. bovis ; however, its effectiveness has not been quantified for this use. We performed a natural transmission experiment to directly...

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 rumi...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a disease with impact on dairy productivity, as well as having the potential for zoonotic transmission. Understanding the genetic diversity of the disease agent Mycobacterium bovis is important for identifying its routes of transmission. Here we investigated the level of genetic diversity of M. bovis isolates and assess...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is one of the top three, high-priority, livestock diseases in Ethiopia and hence, the need for evaluation of potential control strategies is critical. Here, we applied the test-and-segregate followed by cull strategy for the control of bTB in the intensive Alage dairy farm in Ethiopia. All cattle reared on this farm were r...

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 molecul...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an important disease for dairy productivity, as well as having the potential for zoonotic transmission. Previous prevalence studies of bTB in the dairy sector in central Ethiopia have suggested high prevalence, however, they have been limited to relatively small scale surveys, raising concerns about their representative...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is endemic in cattle in Ethiopia, a country that hosts the largest national cattle herd in Africa. The intensive dairy sector, most of which is peri-urban, has the highest prevalence of disease. Previous studies in Ethiopia have demonstrated that the main cause is Mycobacterium bovis , which has been investigated using con...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is endemic in cattle in Ethiopia, a country that hosts the largest national cattle herd in Africa. The intensive dairy sector, most of which is peri-urban, has the highest prevalence of disease. Previous studies in Ethiopia have demonstrated that the main cause is Mycobacterium bovis ( M. bovis ), which has been investigat...

A study was conducted from August 2016 to November 2017 to investigate the prevalance of major ectoparasites of small ruminant and associated risk factors in fourteen districts found in the three Zones of Afar Regional State of Ethiopia. A total of 5376 small ruminants were examined to determine the prevalence of ecto-parasites, includes 3696 goats...

Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) has become an economically important disease in dairy herds found in and around Addis Ababa City and is emerging in regional cities like Gondar, Hawassa and Mekelle because of the establishment of dairy farms in the milk sheds of these cities. A cross-sectional study to estimate the prevalence of BTB and identify associate...

Twelve medicinal plants and a commercially used drug Ivermectin were examined for insecticidal activity against Melophagus ovinus sheep ked at different time intervals using in vitro adult immersion test. The findings show that at 3.13 µL/mL, 6.25 µL/mL and 12.5 µL/mL concentration of Cymbopogon citratus, Foeniculum vulgare and Eucalyptus globulus...

Between May 2006 and January 2007, blood samples and ticks were randomly collected from 220 nomadic animals from Filtu and Dollo Odo districts, Libaan zone, in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Overall, 81.5% cattle, 98.2% camels, 53.4% goats and 61.1% sheep were infested by ixodid ticks. Collected ticks (n = 1,036) were identified as Rhipicephalus pu...

Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa, and lies in the tropics encompassing wide ranges of agro-climatic zones including the cool central highlands, wet tropical forest in the west and southwest and dry arid and semi-arid areas in the east, south and southeast. Therefore it would represent various climatic zones and livestock prod...

The potential of Neem oil, two Neem oil-based liquid formulations and powdered Neem seed mixed with diet ingested by goats were evaluated for their effects on Amblyomma variegatum ticks. The test materials at high concentrations in vitro induced significant mortality of immature stages of A. variegatum and to a lesser degree of adults. Mortality in...

The prevalence of ticks on camels was studied in the semiarid rangelands of southern Ethiopia. A total of 24096 ticks were collected from 510 camels aged between 6 months and 15 years. 11 sp. of ticks; 3 Hyalomma:, 5 Rhipicephalus and 3 Amblyomma were identified. Hyalomma species accounted for 27.44% of the total ticks collected; Rhipicephalus spp....

Tick populations were monitored between October 1991 and September 1992 at monthly intervals on 10 Boran (Bos indicus) heifers at Didtuyura ranch, Yabelo district, Ethiopia. Twelve different tick species in four genera were identified from a total of 16 026 specimens collected. Of all the ticks collected, Rhipicephalus spp. constituted 84.7%, Ambly...

To determine the developmental periods, fecundity and survival of Amblyomma variegatum and Boophilus decoloratus and the effect of host resistance, a study was carried out in the field at Abernossa ranch in Ethiopia using three breeds of cattle: Arssi, Boran and Boran x Friesian crossbreed. The investigation took place between October 1991 and Sept...

Tick resistance in three breeds of cattle, two indigenous breeds (Arssi and Boran) and one Boran x Friesian cross-bread, were compared following natural tick infestations at Abernossa ranch in Ethiopia. The local Arssi breed was found to have the highest tick resistance, followed by the Boran breed, whereas the Boran x Friesian was the least resist...

Nineteen different tick species have been identified in Western Ethiopia. The most important ticks belong to the genera Amblyomma, Boophilus, Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus, while the major cattle tick-borne diseases are anaplasmosis, babesiosis and theileriosis, T. mutans.Dipping, hand spraying and spray races for ticks are only practised in the state...