Farmers urged to vaccinate livestock

The Division of Veterinary Field Services says it is putting in place mechanisms to reduce the impact of livestock diseases such as black leg and anthrax as the rainy season approaches, the ZBC News reported on Tuesday.

The country is already witnessing a number of blackleg and anthrax cases with Hurungwe in Mashonaland West having the latest black leg recorded cases.

The Deputy Director in the Division of Veterinary Field Services, Dr Chenjerai Njangu said the rainy season is characterised by livestock diseases outbreaks, adding that his department has already witnessed sporadic cases which they are attending to.

However, Dr Njangu was quick to point out that government vaccinates notifiable diseases such as rabbies, anthrax, newcastle, and foot and mouth only.

He therefore urged farmers to vaccinate their animals as early as possible to prevent them from these and other killer diseases.

Notifiable diseases are those that are required by law to be reported to government authorities and the collation of information allows the authorities to monitor the disease, and provide early warning of possible outbreaks.

Blackleg, which is not a notifiable disease, is a highly fatal bacterial disease with no symptoms just like anthrax.