Zoonotic infections in Nigeria: overview from a medical perspective

Infections of domestic and wild animals that are transmitted directly or by an arthropod vector to humans are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and particularly in Nigeria, With a population of over 100 milli on and the need for improved health care delivery, Nigerians are at conside rable risk considering the seriousness of these infections. Zoonotic infect ions that are endemic in Nigeria include tuberculosis, trypanosomiasis, tox oplasmosis, taeniasis, rabies, lassa fever and yellow fever. Zoonotic food- borne infections (caused by Campylobacter, Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7) and cryptosporidiosis are emerging. Sporadic cases such as strongy loidiasis, ascariasis, leptospirosis, scabies, pentastomiasis and African h istoplasmosis have been reported. There is a need to determine the prevalen ce of tick-borne zoonoses. Prevention and control of zoonoses in humans is by vaccination, treatment and health education. As a first measure to impro ve control, the link between veterinary and medical officers, which is pres ently very weak, needs to be strengthened. Furthermore, regional multidisci plinary approaches to the control of zoonotic infections should be adopted in West Africa, which take into consideration the huge inter-border traffic . (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.