News Archive

ILRI clippings

‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?

A dead monkey sold as bushmeat hangs outside a villager’s house in north-east Gabon. Photograph: Christine Nesbitt/AP An article in The Guardian newspaper raises the question of whether human destruction of nature is responsible for mass pandemics like COVID-19. It quotes Eric Fevre , a principal...

ILRI clippings

What keeps Bill Gates up at night? A (highly prescient) 2015 article spells out our COVID-19 challenges today

Bill Gates (photo credit: Marcos Fuentes via Flickr). What keeps Bill Gates up at night? It’s not child mortality. Not malaria. Not polio. All of which his foundation battles every day. It’s not war, which most of the world tends to worry about. It’s what Gates thinks is the most predictable threat...

ILRI News

We need a new approach, or another coronavirus is inevitable

‘Until we start thinking of human and animal health as linked, another coronavirus is inevitable’, warns Jimmy Smith , the International Livestock Research Institute’s (ILRI) director general in an op-ed published 26 February in the Independent (paywalled, registration required). ‘The coronavirus (...

ILRI News

African swine fever ten years on: the lessons learned and the way forward

A pig in northwest Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Hanh Le). African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs that has caused serious economic and production losses in Asia, where China has seen direct economic losses of an estimated USD141 billion. This transboundary...

AgHealth blog

New study develops forecasting tools for better detection and control of dengue in Vietnam

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease that commonly occurs in warm, tropical climates. It is characterized by high fever and flu-like symptoms that can last for up to one week. In a small proportion of cases, severe dengue may occur, leading to bleeding and low blood pressure. There is no...

ILRI News

Animal health experts on the ‘goat plague’ known as PPR chart ways forward for better controlling a widespread disease harming the world’s small-scale sheep and goats producers

A boy feeding goats during the SLP crop residues project field trip to Ginchi in Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Bruno Gerard). Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), also known as ‘goat plague’, is a viral disease related to rinderpest of sheep as well as goats. This contagious transboundary disease hurts...

ILRI News

In Mali, an old vaccine can be a new way to fight poverty

Fishermen and Sahelian goats by the Niger River, in Segou, Mali (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). Scientists working at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have found a way to significantly increase the vaccination coverage of goats and sheep in the Sahel against one of the most...

ILRI News

ONE HEALTH FOR AFRICA: Germany’s BMZ initiates a new ‘One Health Research, Education and Outreach Centre for Africa’

Germany’s parliamentary state secretary, Maria Flachsbarth, and ILRI’s deputy director general, Dieter Schillinger, signed a letter of intent in to formalize a One Health Research Centre for Africa (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). Today, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and...

AgHealth blog

New study identifies factors affecting spread of brucellosis in humans and livestock in northeastern Kenya

Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease that affects wildlife and livestock. People may get exposed to the disease through direct contact with an infected animal or consumption of raw or undercooked animal products. In humans, the disease is characterized by prolonged fever, body aches, joint...

AgHealth blog

New study finds that urban wildlife may be a significant vector for antimicrobial resistant bacteria

Researchers entering sampling data (photo credit: Zoonoses and Emerging Diseases). In the cities of developing nations, where unregulated antibiotic use is common and livestock jostle with people amid often unsanitary conditions, scientists have found a potentially troubling vector for the...

ILRI News

Deadly African swine fever arrives in China, the world’s largest producer of pigs

Africa swine fever, which recently appeared in Shenyang City, in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, threatens the USD150-billion global pig industry. This article is written by Vish Nene , co-leader of ILRI’s animal and human health program, and Han Jianlin , a population geneticist based in...

ILRI News

Reducing use of antimicrobial drugs in livestock in low-income countries: Two scientists reflect on options

Graphic by Peter Hermes Furian / Shutterstock. Delia Grace Randolph, a veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert who co-leads the Animal and Human Health program at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Kenya, was interviewed recently by Wilton Park, a non-profit...