UVRI boosts veterinary college with lab equipment

Jan 08, 2020

Under the MUII programme, a laboratory has been refurbished to help students and the faculty to carry out research on the diseases, which are common among the communities.

HEALTH
 
Over 70% of the emerging and re-emerging infections that afflict humans are transmitted from animals (zoonotic diseases), the dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources, Robert Tweyongyere, has said.
 
 weyongyere with one of the students in the refurbished labaratory Tweyongyere with one of the students in the refurbished labaratory. (Credit: Violet Nabatanzi)

 

 He said as a result of this, the Makerere University School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources has partnered with the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in the Makerere University-UVRI Training Programme in Infection and Immunity (MUII) to enhance capacity to handle the burden of zoonotic diseases.
 
Under the MUII programme, a laboratory has been refurbished to help students and the faculty to carry out research on the diseases, which are common among the communities. 
 
The diseases that have been affecting Ugandans of late include brucellosis, anthrax, tuberculosis, trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), plague, rabies, viral haemorrhagic fevers such as ebola, marburg, crimean congo haemorrhagic fever and rift valley fever.
 
Tweyongyere said it is important for them as a leading institution in veterinary research and training to come up with such a laboratory and other facilities to research on the zoonotic diseases.
 
He said many other zoonotic diseases are yet to be uncovered and the veterinarians are at the forefront to handle them, hence the need to be well-equipped for the task.
 
Tweyongyere explained that it is important to have such a laboratory since these diseases are increasing.  The laboratory, which cost over Euros 100,000, has the modern equipment necessary to handle robust research.
 
Tweyongyere told the press that the laboratory has been equipped with a biosafety equipment to safely handle biological specimens, such as blood samples from animals.
 
The programme has already received three PhD and masters students, who will operate the facility.
 
 

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