| dc.description.abstract | A study to examine the association between tick - borne diseases
and climate variability in cattle keeping communities in Mbarara
district in South in Western Uganda was undertaken aiming at
inputting into the tactical and strategic control of the diseases in
the largely livestock dependant region in the country. In a multi sectoral priority setting exercise, tick borne diseases was top on
the list of constraints responsible for cattle mortality and reduced
productivity. A clinical tick- borne disease data analyzed basing
on standard microscopic procedures, including capillary
agglutination test and giemsa stain, was obtained from Mbarara
veterinary clinic.
The disease data was matched with rainfall data from
27 rain gauge stations obtained from National
meteorological stations and recording centers scattered within the district covering a period of 56 years since 1950.
The number of wet spells and disease cases showed that
disease cases were positively correlated with rainfall at a
95% confidence level (R2= 0.56). Disease cases exhibited
peak cyclical patterns related to rainfall during the
transmission season during October, November and
December with extreme peaks occurring every other year
while Significant (r2=0.536) variability was observed for the
positive trend in March - April -May seasonal rainfall for
one of the three zones. Additionally, the results in this study
indicate that rainfall is a substantial determinant of seasonal
activity of the transmitting vectors from season to season
and from year to year. | en_US |
