Enhanced surveillance for Rift Valley Fever in livestock during El Niño rains and threat of RVF outbreak, Kenya, 2015-2016

In mid-2015, the United States' Pandemic Prediction and Forecasting Science and Technical Working Group of the National Science and Technology Council, Food and Agriculture Organization Emergency Prevention Systems, and Kenya Meteorological Department issued an alert predicting a high possibili...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PLoS neglected tropical diseases Vol. 12; no. 4; p. e0006353
Main Authors:	Oyas, Harry, Holmstrom, Lindsey, Kemunto, Naomi P, Muturi, Matthew, Mwatondo, Athman, Osoro, Eric, Bitek, Austine, Bett, Bernard, Githinji, Jane W, Thumbi, Samuel M, Widdowson, Marc-Alain, Munyua, Peninah M, Njenga, M Kariuki
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 01-04-2018 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Agricultural technology Animal diseases Animals Biology and Life Sciences Camels Cattle Coccidioidomycosis Countries Disease control Disease prevention Disorders Early warning systems El Nino El Nino phenomena Epidemics Epidemiology Farmers Fever Fisheries Funding Global health Goats Hemorrhage Illnesses International trade Internet Livestock Medicine and health sciences Occupational health Organizations Outbreaks Pandemics People and Places Predictions Public health Rain Rainfall Rift Valley fever Security Sheep Software Supervision Surveillance Symptoms Technology Trade restrictions Tropical diseases Vector-borne diseases Veterinary medicine Viral diseases Zoonoses Kansas Kenya United States > US Egypt Tanzania
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Summary:	In mid-2015, the United States' Pandemic Prediction and Forecasting Science and Technical Working Group of the National Science and Technology Council, Food and Agriculture Organization Emergency Prevention Systems, and Kenya Meteorological Department issued an alert predicting a high possibility of El-Niño rainfall and Rift Valley Fever (RVF) epidemic in Eastern Africa. In response to the alert, the Kenya Directorate of Veterinary Services (KDVS) carried out an enhanced syndromic surveillance system between November 2015 and February 2016, targeting 22 RVF high-risk counties in the country as identified previously through risk mapping. The surveillance collected data on RVF-associated syndromes in cattle, sheep, goats, and camels from >1100 farmers through 66 surveillance officers. During the 14-week surveillance period, the KDVS received 10,958 reports from participating farmers and surveillance officers, of which 362 (3.3%) had at least one syndrome. The reported syndromes included 196 (54.1%) deaths in young livestock, 133 (36.7%) abortions, and 33 (9.1%) hemorrhagic diseases, with most occurring in November and December, the period of heaviest rainfall. Of the 69 herds that met the suspect RVF herd definition (abortion in flooded area), 24 (34.8%) were defined as probable (abortions, mortalities in the young ones, and/or hemorrhagic signs) but none were confirmed. This surveillance activity served as an early warning system that could detect RVF disease in animals before spillover to humans. It was also an excellent pilot for designing and implementing syndromic surveillance in animals in the country, which is now being rolled out using a mobile phone-based data reporting technology as part of the global health security system.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pntd.0006353