Lauren Lai's List: Congo Disease In Animals

• Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: very high  
  
• food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea,  hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
  vectorborne diseases:  malaria, plague, and African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)  
  water contact disease: schistosomiasis
  animal  contact disease: rabies (2009)
• travel medicine physician is needed to evaluate individual risk and recommend  appropriate preventive measures
• vectorborne diseases acquired through the bite of an infected  arthropod:
  
• Malaria - caused by single-cell parasitic protozoa Plasmodium;  transmitted to humans via the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito; parasites  multiply in the liver attacking red blood cells resulting in cycles of fever,  chills, and sweats accompanied by anemia; death due to damage to vital organs  and interruption of blood supply to the brain; endemic in 100, mostly tropical,  countries with 90% of cases and the majority of 1.5-2.5 million estimated annual  deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.
  
• Dengue fever - mosquito-borne (Aedes aegypti) viral disease  associated with urban environments; manifests as sudden onset of fever and  severe headache; occasionally produces shock and hemorrhage leading to death in  5% of cases.
• Yellow fever - mosquito-borne viral disease; severity ranges from  influenza-like symptoms to severe hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever; occurs only  in tropical South America and sub-Saharan Africa, where most cases are reported;  fatality rate is less than 20%.
  Japanese Encephalitis - mosquito-borne  (Culex tritaeniorhynchus) viral disease associated with rural areas in  Asia; acute encephalitis can progress to paralysis, coma, and death; fatality  rates 30%.
  
• African Trypanosomiasis - caused by the parasitic protozoa  Trypanosoma; transmitted to humans via the bite of bloodsucking Tsetse  flies; infection leads to malaise and irregular fevers and, in advanced cases  when the parasites invade the central nervous system, coma and death; endemic in  36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa; cattle and wild animals act as reservoir  hosts for the parasites.
  
• Cutaneous Leishmaniasis - caused by the parasitic protozoa  leishmania; transmitted to humans via the bite of sandflies; results in  skin lesions that may become chronic; endemic in 88 countries; 90% of cases  occur in Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Peru; wild and  domesticated animals as well as humans can act as reservoirs of infection.
• Plague - bacterial disease transmitted by fleas normally associated with  rats; person-to-person airborne transmission also possible; recent plague  epidemics occurred in areas of Asia, Africa, and South America associated with  rural areas or small towns and villages; manifests as fever, headache, and  painfully swollen lymph nodes; disease progresses rapidly and without antibiotic  treatment leads to pneumonic form with a death rate in excess of 50%.
• Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever - tick-borne viral disease; infection may  also result from exposure to infected animal blood or tissue; geographic  distribution includes Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe; sudden  onset of fever, headache, and muscle aches followed by hemorrhaging in the  bowels, urine, nose, and gums; mortality rate is approximately 30%.
  
• Rift Valley fever - viral disease affecting domesticated animals and  humans; transmission is by mosquito and other biting insects; infection may also  occur through handling of infected meat or contact with blood; geographic  distribution includes eastern and southern Africa where cattle and sheep are  raised; symptoms are generally mild with fever and some liver abnormalities, but  the disease may progress to hemorrhagic fever, encephalitis, or ocular disease;  fatality rates are low at about 1% of cases.
• Chikungunya - mosquito-borne (Aedes aegypti) viral disease  associated with urban environments, similar to Dengue Fever; characterized by  sudden onset of fever, rash, and severe joint pain usually lasting 3-7 days,  some cases result in persistent arthritis.
  
• Leptospirosis - bacterial disease that affects animals and humans;  infection occurs through contact with water, food, or soil contaminated by  animal urine; symptoms include high fever, severe headache, vomiting, jaundice,  and diarrhea; untreated, the disease can result in kidney damage, liver failure,  meningitis, or respiratory distress; fatality rates are low but left untreated  recovery can take months.
  
• aerosolized dust or soil contact disease acquired through  inhalation of aerosols contaminated with rodent urine:
  
• Lassa fever - viral disease carried by rats of the genus Mastomys;  endemic in portions of West Africa; infection occurs through direct contact with  or consumption of food contaminated by rodent urine or fecal matter containing  virus particles; fatality rate can reach 50% in epidemic outbreaks.
  
• animal contact disease acquired through direct contact with local  animals:
  
• Rabies - viral disease of mammals usually transmitted through the bite of  an infected animal, most commonly dogs; virus affects the central nervous system  causing brain alteration and death; symptoms initially are non-specific fever  and headache progressing to neurological symptoms; death occurs within days of  the onset of symptoms.

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• get the following vaccinations and medications for vaccine-preventable diseases and other diseases you might be at risk for
• (Note: Your doctor or health-care provider will determine what you will need, depending on factors such as your health and immunization history, areas of the country you will be visiting, and planned activities.)
• at least 4–6 weeks before your trip
• to allow time for your vaccines to take effect and to start taking medicine to prevent malaria
• see a health-care provider for needed vaccines, anti-malaria drugs and other medications and information about how to protect yourself from illness and injury while traveling.
• more than one country during a single trip, be sure to let your health-care provider know so that you can receive the appropriate vaccinations and information for all of your destinations. Long-term travelers, such as those who plan to work or study abroad, may also need additional vaccinations as required by their employer or school.
• Routine vaccines, as they are often called, such as for influenza, chickenpox (or varicella), polio, measles/mumps/rubella (MMR), and diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus (DPT) are given at all stages of life; see the childhood and adolescent immunization schedule and routine adult immunization schedule

• Direct contact with animals can spread diseases like rabies or cause serious injury or illness. It is important to prevent animal bites and scratches.

  • Be sure you are up to date with tetanus vaccination.
  • Do not touch or feed any animals, including dogs and cats. Even animals that look like healthy pets can have rabies or other diseases.
  • Help children stay safe by supervising them carefully around all animals.
  • If you are bitten or scratched, wash the wound well with soap and water and go to a doctor right away. 
  • After your trip, be sure to tell your doctor or state health department if you were bitten or scratched during travel
• • To avoid infections such as HIV and viral hepatitis do not share needles for tattoos, body piercing, or injections.
  • To reduce the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases always use latex condoms.
  • To prevent fungal and parasitic infections, keep feet clean and dry, and do not go barefoot, especially on beaches where animals may have defecated

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• Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda - have agreed to revive the Institute of Agricultural and Zootechnical Research (IRAZ) to better tackle a range of plant and animal diseases.
• countries have not been honouring their funding pledges, citing economic difficulties
• no scientific research programme at the institute since 2009.
• recommence funding to enable the institute to carry out research into crop and animal diseases affecting the region
• Marcel Kapambwe, an advisor to the DRC's agricultural ministry, said that, from April, each country will give around US$1.2 million every three years to the institute.
• The ministers also set up a steering committee - comprising experts from all three countries - to develop a long-term financing mechanism for the institute.
• Kantintima told SciDev.Net that "without agricultural and zootechnical [the technology of animal husbandry] research, agriculture and fishing would be affected and that there would be far less cattle rearing".
• At the closing session of the January meeting, Odette Kayitesi, agricultural minister of Burundi, called for more solidarity between the three governments and urged them to make their initial contributions to IRAZ on time

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• Hyalomma ticks are known to transmit the  disease to animals and man. There is a brief but high-titre viraemic phase  in mammals, at which stage their blood is highly infectious
• Several human outbreaks and individual cases have been reported previously in  South Africa.
  
• first observed in the Crimea by Russian scientists in 1944 and 1945
• The agent was detected in the larvae and in adult ticks, as well as in the blood  of patients during the fever. This agent, presumably a virus, was not maintained  in the laboratory and was lost.
  
• first isolated in Africa from the blood of a febrile patient in Zaire in 1956
• The larval and nymphal stages of some species parasitize birds, including  migratory birds, some of which fly from south-eastern Europe to South Africa and  thus may carry the infection over long distances. To verify whether this  actually happens will require further study of the ticks and their hosts in  South Africa and on their way from Europe.
• usually transmitted to man by the bite of a tick, but an increasing number of  cases have occurred among the medical and nursing staff caring for patients in  hospital and in laboratory personnel carrying out investigations of these  patients. In these cases the infection has apparently been acquired by  contagion, particularly by contact with the patient's blood or  blood-contaminated specimens. Exposure to the blood of infected animals,  especially cattle and sheep, has led to severe and often fatal infections.
• In fatal cases, death from massive haemorrhage and cardiac arrest occurs,  usually 7 - 9 days after the onset of the illness. Massive haemorrhage into the  gastro-intestinal tract, with scattered haemorrhages into the viscera, is found  at autopsy
• The diagnosis is suggested on clinical grounds when the patient has a history of  a tick bite or of exposure to ticks in the environment, and after an incubation  period of 2 - 7 days develops an illness of sudden onset of muscle pains,  headache fever and a rapidly evolving severe illness with the development of a  haemorrhagic state with bleeding from the mucous membranes and petechiae in the  skin, associated with thrombocytopenia and leucopenia

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• Africa :: Congo, Democratic Republic of the
• Congolese
• slowly recovering from decades of decline
• violence, famine, and disease
• 73,599,190
• the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
• 71% (2006 est.)
• degree of risk: very high
• food or waterborne diseases:    bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
• , and African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)

     

   
• vectorborne diseases:    malaria, plague
• water contact disease:    schistosomiasis
• animal contact disease:    rabies (2009
• mining (diamonds, gold, copper,

  cobalt, coltan, zinc, tin, diamonds), mineral processing, consumer products (textiles, plastics, footwear, cigarettes), metal products, processed foods and beverages, timber, cement, commercial ship

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