We have had to learn to deal with all sorts of adversity in the field. In February 2020, the researchers had to grapple with tremendous downpours of rain which completely prevented access to the crop fields – they were so muddy that the researchers would sink in up to their knees in the mud! The dirt roads became progressively more difficult to navigate as the rain gouged out channels in the roads and created great potholes! We had to dig our vehicles out of sticky situations on several occasions! Another incident saw Prof Neves rescuing a male impala that became spooked on our approach and ran into and got entangled with the game fence (it all happened too quickly and unfortunately we didn’t get any photos to capture the moment)!  

Our most recent trip in October saw one of our vehicles breaking down completely leaving our researchers stranded in the field as the sun was setting. Huge thanks to the HH staff for heroically coming to our researchers’ rescue after dark! We are also very grateful to the Environmental Monitors who help us to navigate our way through the villages and interact with the community.

In the villages, traps are set in and around buildings, in woodpiles and in grain stores

Thus far, serological tests have shown that 28% of rodents are positive for T. gondii. Bacterial microbiome analyses done on 50 samples to date reveal that Anaplasma and Bartonella species were most commonly identified in the rodent blood samples.  Unfortunately, due to the restrictions that were imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, laboratory work was suspended in March 2020, and progress this year has been slow. However, our researchers are now back in the labs and we hope to make good progress from here on! The next steps will be to continue with processing of new samples, and rodent identities will be confirmed using molecular techniques. Molecular screening of the various rodent samples for haemoparasites, bacteria and Toxoplasma will continue. Molecular analyses still need to be done to quantify the parasite densities and characterise the T. gondii DNA that will be isolated. Lastly, the ectoparasites will be identified and helminth parasites will be recovered and identified. The project is ongoing with further collecting trips planned for 2021 and the following years.