The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Nwoya, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Nwoya Veterinary officials have started mass cattle vaccination amidst the suspected outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).
Cases of suspected FMD have been reported by local farmers in different kraals in Got Okwara village, Nyamokino Parish in Lungulu Sub-county in the last two weeks. Other cases were also reported in Got Apwoyo Sub-county.
Dr. Isiah Odokorach, the Nwoya District Veterinary Officer, says that at least 50 animals presented with symptoms of the highly viral livestock disease during their assessments in three different kraals in Nyamokino Parish. Odokorach says samples from the infected animals have already been taken for further analysis at the National Animal Diseases Diagnostic and Epidemiology Center (NADDEC) in Entebbe to ascertain whether there is a case of FMD in the district.
He notes that they have embarked on vaccination of cattle as a remedy to control transmission since there is no specific cure for FMD but notes that farmers’ responses are low. “We are already carrying out vaccination of cattle but the mobilization and responses by the farmers are poor. People need to vaccinate their cattle because the disease has no cure,” says Dr. Odokorach.
Odokorach says whereas the morbidity rate of FMD is high, they haven’t yet registered any mortality of cattle from the areas under investigation. Alfred Kilama, the District Agricultural officer of Nwoya however blamed the persistent suspected outbreak of the disease on the unregulated entry of cattle without clearance.
He particularly blamed those keeping large numbers of cattle who enter the district during night hours without showing evidence of where their animals are from or have been vaccinated against FMD. It remains unclear how many cattle have already been vaccinated in the last two weeks but veterinary officials say the exercise will target cattle in kraals that are close to the areas where suspected cases were reported.
The Lungulu Sub-County Chairperson Denis Atube has called on farmers to cooperate with the officials carrying out the vaccination to curb down spread of the suspected disease. Nwoya district registered an outbreak of FMD early this year in Nyamokino where more than 50 cattle were infected. In July 2021, an outbreak of the disease killed more than 20 cattle in the sub-counties of Anaka and Purongo leading to the institution of animal quarantine for six months by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
*****
URN
