Research Article:Awareness towards rabies in the residents of Kathmandu metropolitan city, Nepal.

 

Journal article: Journal of Zoonotic Diseases

Authors: Subhash Chaudhary, Swotantra Dangi

Affiliation: Forum for Rural Welfare and Agricultural Reform for Development Bharatpur-2, Chitwan, Nepal

Correspondence author email: cswotantra@gmail.com

Image Source: World health Organization

Abstract:

Rabies is a neglected tropical zoonotic disease, causing the majority of global human rabies deaths in developing countries of Asia and Africa. The objective of the study was to identify the social and demographic characteristics of the residents and pet (dogs and cats) owners of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. A cross-sectional study was carried during March - April 2017 to assess the community awareness and knowledge towards rabies by applying a semi-structured questionnaire. Awareness level was high on rabies about its cause (87.5%) and symptoms (91.94%). All respondents have knowledge that it is transmitted by the bite of rabid animals (100%), is a fatal disease (85.63%), is a vaccine preventable (96.25%), and is curable (60%) if treated before the onset of clinical symptoms. All the respondents would visit a hospital after being bitten by a stray dog/cat, while only (56.43%) of respondents would visit a hospital if being bitten by a pet dog/cat (56.43%). Furthermore, 87.36% of them reported that they would visit the hospital on the day of the bite. The respondents had positive attitudes and practices towards rabies as all the pet owners had vaccinated their pets against rabies, 98.28% mentioned that they would notify the concerned authorities in case of rabies outbreaks; approximately 47.41% will kill a rabid stray dog and either bury it or inform the municipality for its proper disposal. The results indicate the knowledge gaps about rabies in the community that could be improved by a rabies awareness campaigns, public health education, and vaccination campaigns.

Further reading: 

You can access the research article through following links:

DOI: 10.22034/jzd.2021.12473

URL: https://jzd.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_12473.html

Publisher: University of Tabriz

Milk, daily used dairy commodity, its contamination and recommendations for safe milk production

Milk can be regarded as a nutritionally complete food, containing protein, fat, lactose, vitamins and minerals, together with natural enzymes and those derived from microorganisms within the milk (Dhamala, 2018). Milk and their by-product act as a favorable medium for the growth of the various micro-organisms and thus are susceptible to various microbial contamination (De Buyser, Dufour, Maire, & Lafarge, 2001). 

Contamination of milk may occur through various sources. May be through infected cow with tuberculosis, brucellosis, and mastitis and also from milk handlers infected with typhoid fever, diphtheria, dysentery, and scarlet fever (Jay et al., 2005). Poor pre-milking hygienic practices may lead to the milk contamination which ultimately have risk to consumer. Thus, the safety of milk and their by-products is of prime importance to ensure the public safety. This is a serious challenge particularly in developing and under developed country where the milk and their products are prepared adopting the unhygienic practices (Dhungel Maskey; Bhattarai; & Shrestha; 2019). The rules and regulations to ensure the public safety in developing country like Nepal is not strictly followed, thus, milk borne diseases and health risk is higher.

Milk is considered to be a complete food as it contains almost all the nutrients required by both children and adult human. It is a valuable source of carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamin and minerals. Despite the nourishing and wholesome effect of milk, milk produced and handled under unhygienic condition can be a source of several diseases. In some cases, milk may render serious human health hazards. Therefore, it is very essential to control production, processing marketing of milk at all stages (Yadav et al., 1993). Lack of clean milk production and good manufacturing practices (GMP) during production stage  has been a major issue. In addition to  this, chances of transmission of zoonotic diseases and milk adulteration practices are the other important issues to be taken under consideration. The major causes of adulteration are increased consumer demand, aqueous and opaque properties of the milk, unscrupulous producers/traders, perishable nature of milk, and lack of effective legal standards and enforcement, and lack of reliable and rapid milk adulteration detection kit (Kamthania et al., 2014)

Points to be considered to avoid the milk contamination:

Environmental Hygiene:

Water contamination, and for example pests (such as insects and rodents), chemicals and the both internal and external environments where the animals are housed and milked, may contaminate feed, milking equipment or milking animals leading to the introduction of potential hazards into the milk.Thus, the environmental hygiene is crucial for avoiding contamination.

Premises for milk production:

Improper and poorly maintained premises have shown to contaminate the milk.

Animal Health:

Milk and milk products obtained from the diseased animals are unsuitable for consumption by consumers. Thus, it requires the proper maintenance of the healthy animals that help to reduce the likelihood that pathogens to be introduced into the milk via the mammary gland or from the faeces. It is important to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases among animals and from animals (including milking animals) to milk.

Suggestions/Recommendations: Provide Farmer level training and awareness programs related to high-quality milk production. Also, Milk collection centers and chilling centers should improve their existing facilities and organize the milk collection schedule so that the milk collected at farm reaches the chilling center within 3 hours of milking, which checks bacterial growth.