No vaccine against lumpy skin
An outbreak of lumpy skin disease is spreading among cattle in the north because no vaccines are available.
The president of the Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU), Tobias Emvula, told Namibian Sun that farmers wanted to vaccinate their cattle against the mosquito-borne disease but there was no vaccine available in the whole of Namibia.
The chief state veterinarian for north-western Namibia, Dr Kennedy Shoombe, confirmed the vaccine shortage and advised farmers to apply insecticide to their cattle to keep mosquitoes at bay while waiting for vaccines to arrive.
“Our union tried to assist farmers by trying to source vaccines from private pharmacies in the south, but there is nothing. This is a huge concern as the disease is spreading very fast and there are no vaccines to prevent it spreading,” Emvula said.
Shoombe said farmers could visit state veterinary offices for prescriptions, but the government had no plan of assisting farmers in fighting this disease. He said vaccines to protect cattle from the disease could only be obtained from private pharmacies.
He said the disease was being transmitted by mosquitoes following a good rainy season. He could not tell how many cattle had been affected so far, but said that 1.5 million cattle were at risk of this disease.
“The biggest concern is that local private pharmacies buy the vaccine in low quantities. The vaccines are finished immediately after an outbreak. I communicated with some veterinary medical suppliers in Windhoek and they told me that they had ordered drugs which would be available soon,” Shoombe said.
He said the disease could kill calves quickly and cause permanent skin damage in adult cattle. Lumpy skin disease is a viral infection of cattle characterised by the appearance of nodules on the skin. The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and biting flies.
Shoombe said because it was a viral disease, there was no cure for skin lumpy disease.
Farmers could either vaccinate uninfected cattle for prevention, or treat sick cattle symptomatically with painkillers and antibiotics to help their lungs.
Once infected, a cow can start displaying symptoms of the disease after four to fourteen days.
Shoombe said the outbreak was first reported in the Oshana Region last month, and then spread to Oshana, Oshikoto, Omusati and Ohangwena.
Although there is no evidence that lumpy skin disease can be transmitted to humans, Shoombe advised people not to eat the meat of sick cattle.
The president of the Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU), Tobias Emvula, told Namibian Sun that farmers wanted to vaccinate their cattle against the mosquito-borne disease but there was no vaccine available in the whole of Namibia.
The chief state veterinarian for north-western Namibia, Dr Kennedy Shoombe, confirmed the vaccine shortage and advised farmers to apply insecticide to their cattle to keep mosquitoes at bay while waiting for vaccines to arrive.
“Our union tried to assist farmers by trying to source vaccines from private pharmacies in the south, but there is nothing. This is a huge concern as the disease is spreading very fast and there are no vaccines to prevent it spreading,” Emvula said.
Shoombe said farmers could visit state veterinary offices for prescriptions, but the government had no plan of assisting farmers in fighting this disease. He said vaccines to protect cattle from the disease could only be obtained from private pharmacies.
He said the disease was being transmitted by mosquitoes following a good rainy season. He could not tell how many cattle had been affected so far, but said that 1.5 million cattle were at risk of this disease.
“The biggest concern is that local private pharmacies buy the vaccine in low quantities. The vaccines are finished immediately after an outbreak. I communicated with some veterinary medical suppliers in Windhoek and they told me that they had ordered drugs which would be available soon,” Shoombe said.
He said the disease could kill calves quickly and cause permanent skin damage in adult cattle. Lumpy skin disease is a viral infection of cattle characterised by the appearance of nodules on the skin. The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and biting flies.
Shoombe said because it was a viral disease, there was no cure for skin lumpy disease.
Farmers could either vaccinate uninfected cattle for prevention, or treat sick cattle symptomatically with painkillers and antibiotics to help their lungs.
Once infected, a cow can start displaying symptoms of the disease after four to fourteen days.
Shoombe said the outbreak was first reported in the Oshana Region last month, and then spread to Oshana, Oshikoto, Omusati and Ohangwena.
Although there is no evidence that lumpy skin disease can be transmitted to humans, Shoombe advised people not to eat the meat of sick cattle.
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Namibian Sun
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