Cattle in Nakuru vaccinated after foot and mouth disease reported

The county government of Nakuru has moved to contain a foot and mouth disease outbreak that was reported in parts of Rongai Sub-County last week, Nation has learnt.

County Agriculture Chief Officer Enos Amuyunzu said the affected areas have been quarantined until the situation is contained.

The county has also embarked on a programme to vaccinate cattle against the disease in parts of Rongai.

The programme started in Mosop Ward over the weekend where veterinary officers suspected the disease first broke out.

County officials camped in three stations and vaccinated over 2,000 cattle against the virus and intend to continue with the vaccination Monday.

The county administration said it took early steps as a preventive measure to protect the animals against the virus.

“We know the disease spreads so quickly among the animals and that is why we intervened at this early stage although there are no cases of any damage as at now,” Rongai veterinary officer Martin Karite said.

RABIES

The health officials also took the opportunity to vaccinate dogs in the area against rabies after it was reported that many dogs could be rabid.

The disease which is dangerous not only to animals but also to humans bitten by rabid dogs affects the central nervous system and the brain.

“We decided instead of coming twice for vaccination to take this opportunity to immunise even the dogs which are in a huge population around this area to avoid any case of the disease in the future,” Mr Karite told Nation.

Farmers turned out in large numbers to have their animals vaccinated against the diseases.

“We were afraid of losing our animals because we fear the diseases; we are grateful for this early measures,” Mr John Rotich said.

The vaccination was done for free as drugs were supplied by the county government.