Dr
Philomena
Ikye-Tor
My name is Dr. Philomena Mde Ikye-Tor. I am a veterinarian lecturing in the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Nigeria. I got my DVM degree from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 2003 and proceeded to the same university for my Master’s and Doctorate degrees. I am currently a Lecturer I and my duties involve lecturing, clinical duties, research, extension services and student supervision. My research interest is in prevention and control of zoonotic diseases in poor communities with a focus on rabies.
I am particularly passionate about ending human deaths from dog mediated rabies, so I work as a volunteer for a nonprofit Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) called War Against Rabies Foundation (WARF) where our activities involve Public health education/awareness for rabies, disease outbreak investigation, administration of rabies vaccines to dog and integrated dog bite case management. I am coordinated with great organizational skills to strategically plan and lead public health campaigns and at the same time teachable and continuously committed to self-improvement and improvement of others.
My research interest is in prevention and control of zoonotic diseases with a focus on rabies.
I am working on the prevalence of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies in vaccinated dogs and puppies under 3 months. We are trying to determine the reasons for the increase in cases of rabies in young puppies and in vaccinated dogs. I am also studying the dog ecology in Makurdi and molecular epidemiology of rabies in apparently healthy dogs. Also working on the molecular epidemiology of rabies in Benue state.