South-west Directors of Veterinary Services Confirm Outbreak of Two Animal Diseases

Segun James

The conference of South-west Directors of Veterinary Services has confirmed the outbreak of two Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) in the region namely – the African Swine fever in pigs and Anthrax in herbivores.

A statement signed by the Chairman of the conference, Dr. Taiwo Jolaoso, stated that TADs are a contagious epidemic of livestock that has the potential to spread rapidly across the globe with negative socio-economic and public health consequences and requires the collaboration of different countries to curtail.
The statement further said that all affected farms and slaughter slabs have been decontaminated and disinfected while modalities relating to the issuance of movement permits in the region are being worked out.

The statement added that public awareness would be intensified among high-risk groups such as butchers, hunters, animal product processors and marketers, as well as livestock farmers to further check the spread.
The conference advised all the pig farmers to improve their biosecurity measures and refrain from stocking their farms.
For Anthrax, they implored all stakeholders to avoid contact with sick or dead animals especially if it oozes blood from the orifices while such cases should be reported to the nearest veterinary office.

The federal government had stated that the risk assessment conducted showed that the likelihood of an outbreak of anthrax disease in the country is high.
It also said that the potential impact of the disease on humans is high.

In a joint press statement signed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, Dr. Columba Vakuru, and the Director General of NCDC, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, the government noted that it had activated the incident management system at level two with an incident manager appointed for effective coordination of the response.