Joseph Wang’ang’a Oundo

This paper models how entomopathogenic fungi can reduce East Coast fever transmission in cattle by affecting tick mortality and population dynamics.

The paper identifies tsetse fly blood-meal sources, endosymbiont infections, and trypanosome infections in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, finding that hippopotamus and buffalo are significant hosts and that Sodalis glossinidius endosymbionts correlate with higher trypanosome infection rates.

The paper surveys questing ticks in the Maasai Mara National Reserve to identify pathogens, endosymbionts, and blood-meal sources, revealing zoonotic risks and potential disease vectors.

The paper develops a low-cost method using PCR and high-resolution melting analysis to identify vertebrate species from mitochondrial DNA, applied to forensic and biodiversity research.