Livestock Movement Informs the Risk of Disease Spread in Traditional Production Systems in East Africa (original) (raw)

Local and wide-scale livestock movement networks inform disease control strategies in East Africa

Livestock mobility exacerbates infectious disease risks across sub-Saharan Africa, but enables critical access to grazing and water resources, and trade. Identifying locations of high livestock traffic offers opportunities for targeted control. We focus on Tanzanian agropastoral and pastoral communities that are representative of eastern African livestock production systems. We built networks of livestock connectivity using participatory mapping data, reliant on consultation with local communities, and data from trading points to understand how seasonal availability of resources, land-use, and trade influence the movements of livestock. In agropastoral settings, inter- and intra-village connectivity through shared resources was higher in the dry compared to the wet season suggesting greater livestock traffic and increased contact probability. Unlike agropastoral communities, the livestock from pastoral areas were more clustered at communal locations during the wet season, when they ...

Implications of the cattle trade network in Cameroon for regional disease prevention and control

Scientific reports, 2017

Movement of live animals is a major risk factor for the spread of livestock diseases and zoonotic infections. Understanding contact patterns is key to informing cost-effective surveillance and control strategies. In West and Central Africa some of the most rapid urbanization globally is expected to increase the demand for animal-source foods and the need for safer and more efficient animal production. Livestock trading points represent a strategic contact node in the dissemination of multiple pathogens. From October 2014 to May 2015 official transaction records were collected and a questionnaire-based survey was carried out in cattle markets throughout Western and Central-Northern Cameroon. The data were used to analyse the cattle trade network including a total of 127 livestock markets within Cameroon and five neighboring countries. This study explores for the first time the influence of animal trade on infectious disease spread in the region. The investigations showed that nationa...