The primary objective of this component is to assess if dogs can be sentinel for Leptospirosis outbreaks in human and so to set up a surveillance and early warning system.
NHL has recruited a veterinarian, Dr Thet Naing Tun, to coordinate activities of ECOMORE project related with surveillance of Leptspirosis in dogs; coordination is about informing private veterinarians and pet shelters on the opportunity of testing suspected dogs for Leptospirosis, to arrange delivery of samples to YVDL and to provide feedback to veterinarians. Dr Thet Naing Tun plans to visit individually vet clinics to clarify the procedures to submit specimens to Yangon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and to explain their benefit to participate in the study; accurate diagnosis, identification of sero-groups circulating in Yangon and so recommendations for appropriate vaccination.
Blood samples will be shipped daily to YVDL to be tested by RDT and sera will be kept at -25oC in the lab freezer provided by the project; thereafter, Dr Aung Zaw Moe, researcher at YVDL will be invited to perform MAT on positive samples to identify strains, at Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia in the Unit of Research and Expertise on Leptospirosis led by Dr Cyrille Goarant.
A real collaboration is now established between NHL and YVDL; in this sense veterinarians participated in the training on diagnosis of Leptospirosis by qPCR organized by Dr Cyrille Goarant on 15 May at NHL bacteriology unit.
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