Pathogen Testing in Ticks: A One Health Approach to Disease Surveillance in Turkana, Kenya

Turkana, a county located in the Northwestern part of Kenya, is an arid region with pastoralism as the primary economic activity. These characteristics, coupled with a constant migration of people and livestock across shared watering holes, render Turkana susceptible to tick infestation and tick-borne diseases. Because pastoralists in Turkana are politically and economically marginalized, and their livelihoods depend on the health of their livestock, tick-borne diseases pose a serious economic and public health threat in Turkana. The One Health approach, grounded in the concept that the health of the environment, animals, and humans are all interrelated, is an effective framework for mitigating tick-borne illnesses (Griffith et. al 2020). This study employed the One Health approach in conducting tick-borne disease surveillance in Turkana, Kenya. Over 1200 ticks were collected from livestock and the environment within Turkana county. These ticks were then identified morphologically and grouped by species, host, and region. Genetic material was subsequently extracted from the ticks and analyzed using real-time PCR and cDNA sequencing to identify the pathogens carried by them. Although the data and results of this study are unable to be shared at this time, they will be published in the future. These findings will be valuable for detecting, understanding, and mitigating specific tick-borne diseases that spread among the environment, animals, and people in Turkana, Kenya.

TITLE
Hello! I’m Grace. I’m Margaret. For our STIP project, Margaret and I helped investigate pathogen testing in ticks: a one health approach to disease surveillance in Turkana, Kenya.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Our research is grounded in the concept of one health, the idea that the health of the environment, animal, and human are all interrelated. We specifically focused on vector-borne diseases, which are illnesses spread among humans and animals by living organisms known as vectors. Common examples of vectors include arthropods such as mosquitoes, ticks, flies, fleas and lice.

TURKANA, KENYA
Our research employs an One Health approach to conducting tick disease surveillance in Turkana, Kenya. Kenya is a country located in Eastern Africa, and Turkana is a county located in the Northwestern part of Kenya, bordering Uganda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. Turkana is an arid region with pastoralism as the primary economic activity. These characteristics render Turkana susceptible to ticks and tickborne diseases because ticks thrive in arid conditions and prefer livestock as hosts. Moreover, due to the low population density of 14 people per square kilometer, individuals frequently travel long distances with their livestock and congregate at shared watering holes. The livestock carry and shed ticks, which then multiply and latch onto the next group of people and livestock that arrive at the watering hole. Consequently, the constant migration of ticks, livestock, and people across these shared areas facilitates the transmission of tickborne diseases.

TICK DISEASE SURVEILLANCE
To employ the one health approach to conducting tick disease surveillance in Turkana, Kenya, the following four-step process was followed.

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE THROUGH TICKS
Step 1: collect, identify, and group ticks.

STEP ONE: TICK COLLECTION AND IDENTIFICATION
Over 1200 ticks were collected from animals and the environment within Turkana county. These ticks were then identified morphologically and grouped by region, species, as laid out in the left side of the slide, and host animals from which they were collected, as can be seen from the right side of the slide.

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE THROUGH TICKS
Step 2: Extraction of genetic material from ticks

DNA EXTRACTION FROM TICKS
The ticks were then crushed and processed for DNA (genetic material) extraction.

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE THROUGH TICKS
Step 3: identify pathogens. Pathogens are bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms that can cause disease

IDENTIFICATION OF TICK-BORNE PATHOGENS
Real-time PCR, which stands for polymerase chain reaction, was performed to make multiple copies of the specific pieces of DNA to make it easier to detect and identify pathogens. cDNA sequencing was then performed to compare the tick DNA segment of interest with known DNA sequences of the four pathogens listed in this slide, leading to their identification and helping us understand what kind of diseases these ticks spread.

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE THROUGH TICKS
Data and results will be shared in the future. These findings are valuable for detecting and understanding the specific diseases that spread among the environment, animals, and people in Turkana, Kenya.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We’d like to thank all the people who’ve helped us conduct this research:
Summer Team Impact Project (STIP) Program, Office of Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR) at George Mason University
Dr. Michael Von Fricken, Nora Cleary, Abby Lilak, and Graham Matulis (project mentors)
REDI-NET Team, Mpala Research Center
Biomeme staff

THANK YOU