Risk factors associated with cystic echinococcosis in humans in selected pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of Uganda

Research Article

International Journal of One Health, 3: 1-6

https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2017.1-6

Emmanuel Othieno¹, Andrew Livex Okwi¹, Ezekiel Mupere¹, Eberhard Zeyhle², Peter Oba³, Martin Chamai³, Leonard Omadang³, Francis Olaki Inangolet⁴, Ludwing Siefert³, Francis Ejobi³, and Michael Ocaido³

1. School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
2. Hydatid Disease Unit, African Medical and Research Foundation, P.O. Box 30125, Wilson Airport, Langata Road, Nairobi 00100, Kenya.
3. School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
4. Napak District Veterinary Office, Karamoja, Uganda.

Background and Aim: It was to determine the risk factors responsible of occurrence of cystic echinococcosis (CE) of humans in the pastoral and agro-pastoral (PAP) in Uganda.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in districts: Moroto, Napak, Nakapiripirit and Amudat in Karamoja region; in agro-pastoral communities of Teso region, in the districts of Kumi and Bukedea; Nakasongola district in Central region and in Kasese district in the Western region. People were subjected to voluntary ultrasound screening for CE. Those found positive to CE on ultrasound screening were interviewed using a special designed form to find out the probable predisposing factors for acquisition of CE infection. Predisposing factors considered were location, age, sex, dog ownership, occupation, water source, and religion. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify key risk factors.

Results: In Karamoja region, being female, age beyond 40 years and open spring water sources were the risk factors. While for Nakasongola age beyond 40 years was a risk factor. In Kasese dog ownership, age >60 years and being a Muslim were risk factors. In Teso region dog ownership and age >60 years were the risk factors.

Conclusion: Being a pastoralist, a female, increasing age beyond 40 years, open spring water sources, dog ownership and being a Muslim were the risk factors for CE in PAP areas in Uganda. Keywords: agro-pastoral, cystic echinococcosis, humans, risk factors pastoral, Uganda.

Keywords: agro-pastoral, cystic echinococcosis, humans, risk factors pastoral, Uganda.

How to cite this article: Othieno E, Okwi AL, Mupere E, Zeyhle E, Oba P, Chamai M, Omadang L, Inangolet FO, Siefert L, Ejobi F, Ocaido M. Risk factors associated with cystic echinococcosis in humans in selected pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of Uganda. Int J One Health 2017;3:1-6.

Received: 29-09-2016 Accepted: 01-02-2017 Published online: 26-02-2017

Corresponding author: Emmanuel Othieno E-mail: othienoemma@yahoo.com

DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2017.1-6

Copyright: Othieno, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.