Measures to address tick-borne diseases intensified
IN a bid to control tick borne diseases, Government has introduced the Integrated Tick and Tick-Borne Disease Control Strategy (ITTBDCS) which comprises of three components namely intensive cattle dipping, vaccination of cattle and acaricide resistance monitoring.
These three components complement each other well in reducing the impact of tick-borne infections. Acaricide resistance monitoring is important in ensuring the effectiveness of cattle dipping as it continually evaluates acaricide resistance profiles of different tick species against specific dipping chemicals, and thus prevents dipping failures.
It is also used to evaluate the effectiveness of current dipping regimes, and thus provides useful information to decision makers on whether to alter dipping regimes to ensure effective tick control.
During the wet season, livestock is susceptible to tick-borne diseases and farmers should properly implement the above measures to protect their livestock.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and
Rural Development permanent secretary Professor Obert Jiri said for the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024,Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) intends to conduct 12 dipping sessions for cattle throughout the country’s 4099 dip tanks.
“To achieve this, DVS needs to procure 55 000kg and 33 750kg of Amitraz 25percent and Amitraz 50 percent respectively, as well as 12 750kg of Deltamethrin 5percent and 52 750kg of Deltamethrin 1percent, which are to be used as pour-on applications. It is essential that both plunge dipping and pour-on applications be used concurrently to increase the effectiveness of tick control. In addition to plunge dipping and pour-on applications, tick grease application on cattle will be done and DVS will need 375 000kg of tick grease for the above mentioned period,”he said.
“Considering the impending threat of these tick-borne diseases due to the commencement of rains for the 2023/2024 agricultural season, the department has developed a roadmap detailing strategies to reduce the impact of these diseases, in particular January Disease. This roadmap will be mainly premised on the ITTBDCS,”he said
He also said in order to enhance cattle dipping in the first quarter of 2024, the department intends to rehabilitate 125 dip tanks, as well as drill and install 1 025 solar-powered boreholes throughout the country.
Theileriosis, also known as January Disease, is a tick-borne infection which has had a devastating impact on the country’s cattle population in recent years.
Since 2017, it is estimated that over 500 000 animals succumbed to the disease and this has had a negative impact on the Second Republic’s goal to increase the national herd to over six million by the year 2025.
The three tick-borne diseases in the country, namely Heartwater, Gall Sickness and Redwater, have also accounted for significant cattle mortalities in the same period although their combined impact has been less than that for January Disease. DVS intends to produce 150 000 doses of Theileriosis (January Disease) vaccine and 25 000 doses for each of the Gall Sickness and Redwater vaccines, during the first quarter of 2024.
The 150 000 doses of produced January Disease vaccine will be added to the 100 000 doses of the vaccine already in stock and will be subsequently used to vaccinate cattle in selected high-risk districts. These efforts will add onto the 50 000 doses of January disease vaccine which were distributed to five provinces of the country as part of the roll out of the national vaccination campaign against January disease.
Previously identified high-risk districts in the country for January disease include Goromonzi, Mhondoro-Ngezi, Chikomba, Hwedza, Mt Darwin, Masvingo, Makoni, Buhera, Insiza and Mberengwa.
The department also intends to engage the Zimbabwe Republic Police to enable DVS personnel to man roadblocks in selected areas of the country in order to enforce movement control for cattle, as the uncontrolled movement of cattle is one of the ways which infected ticks move to new areas.
DVS will also continue conducting awareness campaigns to farmers through various modes of communication, for them to send their animals consistently for dipping, and also on early identification of signs of illhealth in their animals, to enable quick interventions by DVS to reduce cattle mortalities.