30 000 cattle vaccinated against anthrax

MORE than 30 000 cattle have been vaccinated against anthrax in Bikita and Gutu districts in Masvingo Province following the outbreak of the disease recently, an official has said.

This comes in the wake of reports that more people continued to be diagnosed with anthrax as the districts have recorded more than 70 patients while 50 cattle have also died as of Friday.

In an interview, the Department of Veterinary Services provincial officer, Dr Ernest Dzimwasha, said his office had managed to attend to two dip tanks in Bikita and Gutu where officials vaccinated a considerable number of animals.

“Following the outbreak of anthrax last week, we launched a massive vaccination exercise. We managed to vaccinate 14 832 cattle in Bikita and another 18 335 in Gutu from two dip tanks, as of last Friday,” he said.

He said the anthrax situation was expected to normalise after the vaccination but indicated that the department always carried routine vaccination programmes.

“We hope our vaccination exercise will put a stop to cattle deaths. The department is also carrying out routine vaccination exercises regardless of whether there is an outbreak or not,” he said.

However, Bikita District Development Co-ordinator Mr Bernard Hadzirambwi said the district was still recording cattle deaths despite the ongoing vaccination exercise. He appealed for more vaccines which would cover more cattle.

“As of Monday, the number of people treated of human anthrax had risen to 72 from 34 last week while cattle deaths increased to 50 from 33 cases. While the vaccination exercise is ongoing in Bikita East, the vaccines are not adequate. We therefore appeal to the Government to avail more vaccines that can cover the whole district. We expect at least 14 000 more vaccines, to carter for the remaining areas,” he said.