Is the tradition of drinking raw Yak's blood putting people at the risk of becoming sick?

Methods

Summary

This project aims to begin contacting yak owners in Mustang district of Nepal, where yak's blood drinking practice is common. We have evidence of bacteria, namely Coxiella burnetii, and Brucella spp, from broader areas of high hills of Nepal and adjacent parts of China. The technique is pretty much straight forward that we will test the blood/serum of Yaks for exposure of these bacteria by Enzyme Linked Immuno-sorbent Assay (ELISA). The ELISA kits that we will employ are highly sensitive and will detect if any of the yaks had exposure to the proposed bacteria. ELISA kit manufacturer's protocol will be employed to test.

Challenges

The expected challenges would be trekking to areas where yaks could be grazing. But with the help of local government veterinary officers and animal health care workers, the challenge seems pretty small. There are no obvious risk factors that can affect the outcome of the experiment based on our knowledge of bacterial exposure to other livestock in the region.

Pre Analysis Plan

The data will be recorded in a spreadsheet which will then be analysed with suitable statistical tests to be able to say anything meaningfully.