Background to the project
Ethiopia is a country located just below the Sahara Desert (sub-Saharan), with a population of 100 million people. The country suffers from frequent droughts that leave people and animals without enough food and water. As a result, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Many people rely on their livestock for food and income, especially sheep and goats, but cows are also very common. Ethiopia is estimated to have the largest population of sheep, goats and cows in Africa, and livestock farming is considered the most important industry in the country.
Unfortunately, there are many problems with this livelihood and, for example, many animals die due to infectious diseases. Diarrhoeal diseases are considered one of the biggest problems. Diarrhoeal diseases can be caused by a variety of microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria and protozoa, in addition to environmental factors. The way these are transmitted varies and so does the treatment, for example antibiotics do not work against viruses. Very often, neither vaccines nor other treatments are available.
The microorganisms responsible for diarrhoeal diseases in livestock in Ethiopia have never been properly identified. Therefore, appropriate measures such as vaccination or appropriate biosecurity measures cannot be put in place, nor has it been investigated whether these micro-organisms can spread between animals and humans, and vice versa.
The overall aim of this project is therefore to identify the microorganisms circulating in sheep, goats and cows with diarrhea. We will also investigate in detail some viruses and bacteria of particular interest and follow up whether these are also present in children with diarrhea.
In addition, we have and will continue to use methods that can find completely new microorganisms (so-called metagenomics) and we will also study these new microorganisms in more detail. We believe that there are many as yet undescribed viruses/bacteria that cause diarrheal diseases in ruminants. This has been confirmed by our data to date (manuscript in preparation).
Once we have as complete a picture as possible, we will conclude the project with a workshop where we share this knowledge with organizations responsible for animal, human health and infection control in Ethiopia, who in turn may initiate short-term and long-term measures to control and treat them. All this will lead to significantly healthier animals and thus improved health, reducing hunger and poverty for children in Ethiopia.
Photo: Julia Bergholm
Progress of the project
The project started with fieldwork in winter 2023, when samples from calves with and without diarrhea were collected. The first results of the study have been published in an article (see below). In summary, the main finding was that different species of Cryptosporidium, E. coli K99+, as well as the enteropathogenic viruses Rotavirus A and bovine coronavirus are circulating in calves in Ethiopia. In addition, we found an extremely rare type of rotavirus A, namely G24 and a variant of bovine coronavirus commonly found in camelids.
During the fall of 2024, we are analyzing viral metagenomics data and have found a large number of viruses among the calves that may be of importance (manuscript in preparation).
If the political situation improves, the collection of lambs and kittens with and without diarrhea is planned for autumn 2025.
Publications
