Point of care diagnosis of bovine trypanosomosis, tick-borne diseases and helminthoses with emphasis on portable anaemia-detection devices and decision support systems

Magona, Joseph Webeleta (2004) Point of care diagnosis of bovine trypanosomosis, tick-borne diseases and helminthoses with emphasis on portable anaemia-detection devices and decision support systems. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Effective diagnosis of major endemic bovine diseases such as trypanosomosis, tick-borne diseases and helminthoses that constrain agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa is required for their rational treatment. However, this is hampered by the shortage of professional staff and unavailability of simple field-level diagnostic tests. The work presented in this thesis was designed to evaluate simple diagnostic tools and develop guiding decision support tools to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of these diseases in rural areas of Africa. A Delphi survey, involving 46 veterinary experts consisting of 32 international and 14 local Ugandan experts, was conducted to elicit quantitative information on important clinical signs and risk factors for clinical diagnosis of endemic bovine diseases under consideration. Experts responded to questions on trypanosomosis (26), theileriosis (21), anaplasmosis (23), babesiosis (23), cowdriosis (20), PGE (23), fasciolosis (22) and schistosomosis (12). Overall scores obtained were used to develop a decision support card that utilizes a combination of pattern-matching and colour-banding scoring systems to execute differential diagnosis. The decision support card was designed for field veterinarians, animal health assistants and community animal health workers for use in the rural areas of Africa. An evaluation under controlled conditions to assess its diagnostic performance in die mixed-crop livestock production system is underway, before it is released for routine use by independent end-users. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Animal diseases, veterinary science.
• Colleges/Schools: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Supervisor's Name: Eisler, Dr. Mark and Jonsson, Dr. Nicholas
• Date of Award: 2004
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2004-71138
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 10 May 2019 10:49
• Last Modified: 15 Jun 2021 13:40
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/71138